











SESSESEE 

















The person charging this material is re- 
sponsible for its return to the library from 
which it was withdrawn on or before the 
Latest Date stamped below. 

Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons 
for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from 


the University. 
To renew cali Telephone Center, 333-8400 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


L161—O-1096 








Tom Turner Collection 


759.2 
R7Ar 
IAQIPb 














“ i} 





Digitized by the Internet Archive 
In 2021 with funding from 
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 


https://archive.org/details/ruskinrossettiprOOross_1 


pst ot A PRT DO 


ES 


6% “a8 x i 


\ ad y 


| ie ee 


ae Ty PARE, 





John Allen 


LP Yillood of Mary V; ee Oye. 


. . o ce J 
x ae JOCTUSSON fe F. ee Ke Myer 


RUSKIN: ROSSETTI: 
PRERAPHAELITISM 


PARERS: 1854 To 1862), 


ARRANGED AND EDITED BY 


WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI 


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 


LONDON 
GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD 


1899 
[Ad rights reserved 





DEDICATED 


TO 


5 


MARY DARMESTETER 


te 
“x 


my 


4 


I 
ea = ha 


. 


A TRUE POETESS 


~ 
a 
at 


IN HER WRITINGS AND HER LIFE 


? ¥ : 

pee 

Aig. | 
eth 


W. M. R. 


= 








PREFACE 


In the book which I published in 1895—Dante 
Gabriel Rossetti, his Family-Letters, with a Memoir 
—the last paragraph of the Preface contains the 
following words:—“In case the present book 
should find favour with the public, I should be 
disposed to rummage among my ample stock of 
materials, and produce a number of details re- 
lating not only to my brother, but also to other 
members or connections of the family.” 

That book did find moderate favour with the: 
public, and some favour, as well as recently not 
a little disfavour, with critics in the press, who 
seem to consider that, if I had been less candid, 
and had painted the portrait of my brother with 
more varnish upon it, I should have been a 
less incompetent and more laudable biographer. 


That is not my own opinion. What I said of 


vii 


vill PREFACE 


Dante Rossetti was said with afeceinn and 
admiration, if also with straightforwardness; and 
several truths were stated in a mild tone, not 
because I wished to force them upon public 
attention, but because they had previously been 
stated by other persons in an acrid tone. If I 
care myself to read anything at all about a 
man, I like to know what he really was, and, 
when I become the informant, I like my reader 
to do the same. An important personage does 
not in the long-run suffer by our understanding 
what were his faults, blemishes, or weaknesses ; 
he thus becomes more human to us, and there- 
fore more endeared. A photograph with the 
wrinkles burnished out is always a bad photo- 
graph, and a foolish-looking one. ‘The readers 
(or critics) of my memoir of Dante Rossetti 
may be pretty sure that, if they feel concerned 
for his good name, I feel much more so. 

Ever since the book in question was brought 
out, I have kept steadily in view the project of 
issuing some further instalments of biographical 


material, and have worked diligently upon it. 


PREFACE 1x 


The present volume, which is to be regarded 
as complete in itself, is a sample of the work. It 
is not dependent upon anything which might 
possibly follow it, nor yet upon anything which 
preceded it, although of course a reader who 
has not already a tolerably clear notion of the 
life of Dante Rossetti would find advantage in 
consulting one of the existing biographies. The 
volume is restricted to that part of my brother’s 
life which began with his personal acquaintance 
with Mr. Ruskin, 1854, and ended with the 
death of his wife, 1862. Either Mr. Ruskin in 
relation to my brother, or my brother in rela- 
tion to Mr. Ruskin, counts as the principal 
figure in this compilation. There is also a good 
deal of matter regarding other persons, especially 
Ford Madox Brown. Christina Rossetti appears 
to some small extent; but it happens that, within 
that range of dates, I possess few things con- 
cerning her. 

The present is a period of autobiographies ; 
and I have more than once reflected that, having 


mixed in some interesting transactions, and known 


x PREFACE 


a large number of highly noticeable persons, I 
might find it as possible as some other men to 
write a book of autobiography, or more strictly 
of reminiscences. But that is an enterprise for 
which I am not entirely inclined; my preference 
is for presenting, duly ordered and annotated, 
the solid documentary materials by which my 
reminiscences are confirmed, or on which they 
rest. This plan provides for more raciness of 
phrase, and certainly for more variation in tone 
and point of view. 

In the arrangement of my items I adopt a 
strictly chronological order; but, if a diary is 
drawn upon, I allow it to run out consecutively 
to the end of a year. The order in question, 
I am aware, entails at times some clashing of 
subject-matter; but I have a strong impression 
that it is, on the whole, the best and most 
intelligible method. ‘The reader can guide him- 
self, whenever he may feel so disposed, by the 
table of contents and the index of names. If 
any items in the book are truly trivial or super- 


fluous, I must bear the blame. 


PREFACE x1 


I have to thank several persons who have 
assented to my request to publish letters, or 
extracts from letters. Professor Norton (of Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts) anticipated my request by 
placing at my disposal, of his own accord, the 
letters addressed to him by my brother. 

The reader will observe that type - marks 
of omitted passages are frequent in my pages. 
Naturally there are instances where I purposely 
omit something which I consider unsuited for 
publication, though not in itself trivial; but 
the vast majority of the excised passages are 
left out simply because they amount to mere 
amplification of what appears here in print, or 


are essentially insignificant. 


W. M. ROSSETTI. 
LonpDon, February 1898. 


P.S.— While these sheets were passing 
through the press, the Publisher, Mr. Allen, 
was so good as to communicate to me an extract 
from a letter which had been addressed to him 
by Mr. Ruskin from Thun in Switzerland, on 


xii PREFACE 

August 9, 1859. It is well worth quoting, as 
one more indication of the potent sympathy and 
hopeful anticipation with which the renovator 
of our art-code viewed the Praraphaelite move- 
ment. I do not, know what “Mr. Rossetti’s 
Harp-sketch” may have been — possibly The 
Return of Tibullus to Deka. “Tve lent Mr. 
Rossetti’s Harp-sketch” (says Ruskin) “to some- 
body and forget whom. Tell Mr. Rossetti to 
mind and do the best he can; for he and the 
good P.R.B.’s may really have Europe for their 
field some day soon. ‘The German art is wholly 
and everywhere imbecile to a degree quite un- 
speakable. The P.R.B.’s are the only living 


figure-painters of this age.” 


CONTENTS 


From 


To Date 


1. John Ruskin . . Dante Rossetti . . 1854, May 2 
2. Dante Rossetti . . Francis McCracken. _,, 4 ALS 
3. ny ‘S MACOS LOWY cutdilt s, Pye 
4, John Ruskin . Dante Rossetti . . ,, Juneld 
5. Dante Rossetti. . Madox Brown .. ,, July 29 
; eo i RUG 
6. Madox Brown . (Diary) . to Dec, 13 
7. Dante Rossetti. . Madox Brown. . ,,_ ? Sept. 
8. John Ruskin Dante idesetth, ss 8 pre eee 
9. W. B. Scott . . William Rossetti. ,, Nov. 14 
10. John Ruskin . Dante Rossetti . . ,, ? Autumn 
11. 22 9 ” 29 * 99 P 
(1855, Jan. 25 
12. Madox Brown . (Diary) . te Daun 
13. Christina Rossetti . cis ter 
14. Dante Rossetti . John Tupper . nets Jan. 17 
15. John Ruskin . Dante Rossetti . . ?,, 
ia eae a . . William Rossetti .__,, Feb. 13 
17. Dante Rossetti. . MissSiddal . . . ?,, Pet bs) 
18. John Ruskin . Dante Rossetti . . ,, ? Feb. 
19. 29 29 29 29 mires his 
20. 9 » ; 29 29 wee ey, 
Ble %5, ¥ ee iiss Siddali (2) sive 4, | sce Apri 
22. oe 29 29 22 eyes Set E z 29 


xili 


XIV CONTENTS 


From To 
23. Dante Rossetti . . Madox Brown 
24. John Ruskin . . Dante Rossetti 


25. 33 >P) - s 33 3) 

26. Se 33 2 a 3) 33 

27. 33 a3 ® > 33 ee 

238. 33 33 e F. LBB | 33 

DO ae i Py . . Miss Siddal 
30. 33 Ee J ? ‘2 33 39 4 
Sent as; o . . Dante Rossetti 
32. 33 3) ~ * 33 33 
30. 


33 59 2 ; 93 39 
34. Wm. Allingham . William Rossetti 
35. John Ruskin . . Miss Siddal 


BGA as Rs . .« Dante Rossetti 
37. 33 oH . - 39 39 
38. Ue 9 stile i 


33 33 
39. Dante Rossetti. . Madox Brown 


40. John Ruskin . Dante Rossetti 
41. 23 29 Bias 29 9 

42. Dante Rossetti . . Madox Brown 
43, 23 33 \ 2 33 33 

44, 33 3) “e 33 33 
45, John Ruskin . Dante Rossetti 
46. 29 oP) rere 9 29 

47. 22 29 bd bi 29 9 

48. 29 29 Shane 29 2 

49. 2 2 Huns 22 22 


50. Miss Siddal > . 33 39 


Det OUT RUBIN bee et) Oy vA 
Dana at st es Saseudey ” 
53. 9 ” elite 2 ) 
is@: Simin a! i nets >» 


55. “ke 3) ss = 23 3) 


oe 


Date 
. 1855, April 13 
390 ee 
P 3) 
May 
P 33 
, Ae 
P 33 
le 
aa: kee 
SM 
im ae 
? July 
Pees 
? Summer 
P July 20 
? Summer 
Sept. 13 
33 
33 
? Oct. 
P 
Pots 
Pog, 
SY: 
Christ- 
mas-time 


33 


oP) 


33 


3) 


33 


3) 


PP) 


39 


33 


3) 


3) 


33 


23 


“ed 


. 1856, ? Jan, 


3 


33 


33 


56. 
57. 
58. 
59. 
60. 
61. 
62. 
63. 
64. 
65. 
66. 
67. 
68. 
69. 
70. 
71. 
72. 
73. 
74, 
75. 
76. 
(ie 


78. 


79. 
80. 
81. 
82. 
83. 
84. 
85. 
86. 
87. 


CONTENTS 


From 
John Ruskin 
Dante Rossetti . 
John Ruskin 
Dante Rossetti . 


33 LY | 
John Ruskin 
3) as 


Dante Rossetti . 
J. F. M‘Lennan 


Dante Rossetti . 


W. B. Scott . 
Dante Rossetti . 
W.L. Windus . 


39 33 


Coventry Patmore. 


John Ruskin 
33 3) 
33 23 


Dante Rossetti . 
J. W. Finlay 
Dante Rossetti . 
W. B. Scott . 


John Ruskin 


Miss Siddal . 
John Ruskin 
3) 33 
W. B. Scott . 
John Tupper 
Dante Rossetti . 
29 29 ‘ 
Madox Brown . 
John Ruskin 


To 


. Miss Siddal . 
. Edward Moxon. 
. Dante Rossetti. . 
. William Rossetti 
. Madox Brown . 
. Dante Rossetti . 


3) 3? 


. Madox Brown 
. William Rossetti 


. John Tupper 


. William Rossetti 
. John Tupper 
. Dante Rossetti . 


33 39 
a3 39 
23 39 
3) 33 


3) 39 


. Madox Brown 
. William Rossetti 
. Madox Brown 
. William Rossetti 


. Dante Rossetti. 


. (Poems) : 
. Dante Rossetti . 
. William Rossetti 


33 33 


3) 3) 


. Madox Brown . 


39 3) 


. William Rossetti 
. Dante Ressetti . 


XV 
Date 
. 1856, Jan. 27 
>» ? Feb. 
330ul. Mar: 
EB ] 33 5 
9 cB 6 
> 
33 i 33 
> 
gS © 3) 
4 
93 . ote} 
aS a2 13 
Easter 
fe Sunday 
» May 22 
> ? June 
» duly 30 
33 AUS 
5 
33 = 
5 
a2 ~ 
3) 33 14 
> 
33 ¢ 
a Sept. 6 
i Oct. 25 
ns Dec. 10 
9 PY 
circa 
?? ( Christmas 
. 1857? 
. 1857, Feb. 4 
4 >P) 33 14. 
33 33 18 
33 33 26 
33 ? 73) 28 
33 33 28 


> ? June 


XV1 


88. 
89. 


90. 
91. 
92. 
93. 


94. 


95. 

96. 

97. 

98. 

99. 
100. 
101. 
102. 
103. 
104. 
105. 
106. 
107. 
108. 
109. 
110. 
111. 
112. 
113. 
114. 
115. 
116. 
117. 
118. 
119. 


CONTENTS 


From 
John Ruskin 
Preraphaelite Ex- 
hibition 

Dante Rossetti . 
Wm. Allingham 
John Ruskin 
Captain Ruxton 


39 23 


John Ruskin 

) 29 ° 
Captain Ruxton 
John Ruskin 
Wm. Stillman . 
Dante Rossetti . 
John Ruskin 

29 9 . 
Dante Rossetti . 
Captain Ruxton 
Dante Rossetti . 


Christina Rossetti . 


William Rossetti 


Robert Browning . 
. Mr. Chapman 
. William Rossetti 


33 tT) 
John Ruskin 
Dante Rossetti . 


Robert Browning . 


Thomas Dixon . 
Dante Rossetti . 
William Rossetti 
John Ruskin 


Robert Browning . 


33 33 
John Ruskin 


To 
. William Davis . 


. Professor Norton . 


. William Rossetti 


33 33 

33 33 

33 3.9 
. Dante Rossetti . 
. 29 29 : 
. William Rossetti 

iy 33 

33 33 


. Madox Brown . 
. Dante Rossetti . 


. William Rossetti 


. Madox Brown . 
. William Rossetti 


. Professor Norton 


William Rossetti 
. Frances Rossetti 
William Rossetti 


. Madox Brown . 
William Rossetti 
33 33 
. Madox Brown . 
. Wm. Allingham 
. Dante Rossetti . 
William Rossetti 


33 a. 


. Dante Rossetti . 


Date 


. 1857 


39 


33 


33 
3) 


33 
2) 
33 
33 
33 


33 
- 3) 
P 1858, 
33 


39 


2 39 
. 1859, 


Oct. 


3? 


Nov. 


Dec. 
Jan. 
Feb. 
July 


Aug. 
Sept. 
Nov. 


33 
Dec. 
33 


> B | 
Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


29 


11 


18 
1 
4 
4 
8 

25 

31 

10 

16 
6 


April 2 


May 


10 


June 17 


120. 
121. 
122. 
123. 
124, 
125. 
126. 
127. 
128. 
129. 
130. 
131. 
132. 
133. 
134. 
135. 


136. 


137. 
138. 
139. 
140. 


141. 
142. 
145. 


144, 


145. 
146. 
147. 
148. 
149. 
150. 


From 

Sir John Millais 
John Ruskin 

33 3) » 
Dante Rossetti . 
Wm. Allingham 
Dante Rossetti . 
Lizzie Rossetti . 

3) Ey | 
John Ruskin 
Robert Browning 
Dante Rossetti . 
William Story . 
John Ruskin 


Robert Browning . 
. William Rossetti 
. Madox Brown 


Miss Story 
Dante Rossetti . 


John Ruskin 


Dante Rossetti . 
W. B. Scott . 
William Rossetti 
Morris, Marshall, 
Faulkner & Co. 
W. B. Scott . 
John Ruskin 
W. B. Scott . 


William Rossetti 
Dante Rossetti . 


33 39 


John Ruskin 


Frederic Stephens . 


W. B. Scott . 


Sir George Scharf . 


CONTENTS 


To 


. William Rossetti 
. Dante Rossetti . 


3 33 


. Madox Brown . 
. William Rossetti 
. Madox Brown . 
. (Poems) ; 
. Dante Rossetti . 


39 3) : 


. William Rossetti . 
. Madox Brown 

. William Rossetti 
- Dante Rossetti . 


Madox Brown 


. Dante Rossetti 


. Madox Brown . 
. William Rossetti 
. (Notes) 


i (Prospectus) . 


. William Rossetti 
. Dante Rossetti . 
. William Rossetti 


. (Diary). 


. Madox Brown 
. Ernest Gambart 
. Dante Rossetti . . 
William Rossetti 


39 3) 


oP) 3) 


XV 


Date 
aes beret B July 13 
> 


tHE NS 
> 
ere ff 
. 1860, April 22 
>», May 22 
» 9 23 


>» ? Sept. 


>» sept. 4 
23 a2 22 
3) 33 28 
Spe Weta 25 
ey 
sen NOV eee 
Suh Fes tity LeCanene 
_ 1861, Jan. 12 
Towards 
FSG ALU 
x Jan. 26 
* Mar. 2 
>» April 21 
» ? May 
» May 17 
June 10 
to Oct. 26 
Ae) ee UL Yee 
22 », 10 
Peas Witte 
» Sept. 13 
a5 NOLES 
29 99 22 


XVill 


15] 
152 


155 
156 


. W. B. Scott . 

. Dante Rossetti . 
153. 
Lot 55 » 
. W. B. Scott . 

. Dante Rossetti . 
157. 


158. 


William Rossetti 


CONTENTS 


To 


. William Rossetti 
. Madox Brown 


oe) 33 


. Professor Norton 
. William Rossetti 
. Madox Brown . 


. (Memoranda) 


. Professor Norton . 


Date 


. 1861, Nov. 30 


yy 7 Mee ae 
shoe 


. 23 
, 1862, aatowee 


3) 32. 12 
p Jb | rie) 14 
§ Jan. 25 
(to 29 
ss . Ken ie 


CONTENTS 


Xx 


|The numbers here given are those of the items 


(not of pages). | 


LETTERS, &c., BY 


Allingham, Wm., 34, 91, 124 

Brown, F. Madox, 6, 12, 86 

Browning, Robert, 108, 109, 
112, 117, 118, 129, 133 

Cameron, Mrs. J. M., 

Coleridge, Herbert, 

Dixon, Thomas, 113 

Finlay, J. W., 75 

M‘Lennan, J. F., 64 

Millais, Sir John E., 120 

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner 
& Co., 140 

Patmore, Coventry, 70 

Rossetti, Christina G., 13, 
106 

Rossetti, Dante G., 2, 3, 5, 
7, 14, 17, 19, 23, 39, 42, 43, 
44, 57, 59, 60, 63, 65, 67, 
74, 76, 84, 85, 90, 100, 
103,105, 111, 114, 123, 125, 
130, 135, 137, 145, 146, 
152, 153, 154, 165, 185 

Rossetti, Elizabeth E. (Miss 
Siddal), 50, 79, 126, 127 


Rossetti, Wm. M., 107, 115, 
139, 144, 157 

Ruskin, John, 1, 4, 8, 10, 11, 
15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 
24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 
31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 
40, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49,” 
51, 527 5 54, 55, 56; 58, 
61, 62, 71, 72, 73, 78, 80, 
81, 87, 88, 92, 95, 96, 98, 
101, 102, 110, 116, 119,° 

“121, 122, 128, 182, 186, 
142, 147° 

Ruxton, Captain, 93, 94, 97, 
104 

Scharf, Sir George, 150 

Scott, W. Bell, 9, 66, 77, 82, 
138, 141, 148, 149, 151, 155 

Stephens, Frederic G., 148 

Stillman, W. J., 99 

Story, Edith, 134 

Story, Wm. W., 131 

Tupper, John L., 183 

Windus, W. L., 68, 69 


XX CONTENTS 


LETTERS, &c., TO 


Allingham, Wm., 115 

Brown, F. Madox, 3, 5, 7, 
23, 39, 42, 43, 44, 60, 63, 
74, 76, 84, 85, 100, 103, 
111, 114, 123, 125, 130, 
133, 135, 187, 145, 152, 
153, 156 

Chapman, Mr., 109 

Davis, Wm., 88 

Gambart, Ernest, 146 

McCracken, Francis, 2 

Moxon, Edward, 57 

Norton, Prof. C. E., 90, 105, 
154, 158 

Rossetti, Dante G., 1, 4, 8, 
10, 11, 15, 18, 19, 20, 24, 
25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 
36, 37, 88, 40, 41, 45, 46, 
47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 


54, 55, 58, G1, 62, 68, 69, 
70, 71, 72, 73, 78, 80, 87, 
95, 96, 101, 116, 119, 121, 
122, 127, 128, 132, 136, 
142, 147 

Rossetti, Elizabeth E. (Miss 
Siddal), 21, 22, 29, 30, 35, 
56 

Rossetti, Frances, 107 

Rossetti, Wm. M., 9, 16, 34, 
59, 64, 66, 75, 77, 81, 82, 
83, 86, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, 
98, 99, 102, 104, 106, 108, 
110, 112, 113; 117.418: 
120, 124, 129, 181, 134, 
138, 141, 143, 148, 149, 
150, 151, 155, 157 

Tupper, John L., 14, 65, 
67 


MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. 


The Preraphaelite Exhibition, Russell Place, 171. 
Atheneum Notice of the Preraphaelite Exhibition, 172. 
Hogarth Club—List of Artistic Members, 216. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Tue Grrinoop or Mary Vircin . : Frontispiece 


Tue Bressep Damozet . ‘ ; . facing page 20 
La Pra ; ; : : : : me gat OU 
Tue Lovine Cur . yy 9 oF 
Founp . : ; : ; : ‘ a Sa eo 
SatutatTio Beatricis. IN Enen . : ss Sy anes 
Beatrice at A MarriaGe Frast DENIES 

DANTE HER SALUTATION ‘ : ae >» 114 
*Burp HeEien . ; . A : A >» 136 
PROSERPINE . : : { : é e >, 148 
A Vision oF FIAMMETTA : ie >> 186 
VeronicA VERONESE . , : : aos Valet BAO 
SatutaTio Bearricis. In TERRA : pe 9 264 


* This picture is by W. L. Windus, the others by Dante 
Gabriel Rossetti. 





RUSKIN: ROSSETTI: 
PRERAPHAELITISM 


1. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rossetti. 


I nave before now, in my Memoir of Dante Rossetti 
and elsewhere, written with some fullness about the 
relations between Mr. Ruskin and himself; and I 
shall here refer but very briefly to the matter. It 
seems to have been towards February 1853 that 
Ruskin first saw and admired something painted by 
Rossetti. Early in April 1854 he called upon my 
brother, and again saw him two or three times after- 
wards prior to the date of the ensuing letter— 
which must be the first which he wrote to the 
painter. His phrase “your late loss”’ refers to the 
death of our father, which had taken place on 26th 
April. “Mr. Boyce” was the water-colour painter 
George Price Boyce: he possessed at this time more 
than one water-colour by Rossetti, including the 


Borgia exhibited in London in 1898. By “your 
A 


2 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


pupil” Ruskin means Miss Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal, 
who was now engaged to Rossetti. 


DENMARK HILL. 


2 May 1854. 
Dear Mr. Rosser, Ave 


You must have been surprised and hurt 
at my not having written to you before—but you 
may perhaps already have heard, or at all events 
will soon hear, that I have had much upon my 
mind during the last week, and have been unable 
to attend to my daily duties—of which one of 
the most urgent would at another time have been 
that of expressing to you my sympathy with you 
on the occasion of your late loss. 

I should be sincerely obliged to you if you 
would sometimes write to me (as I shall not, 
I fear, be able to see you before I leave town), 
telling me how you are, and what you are doing 
and thinking of. I am truly anxious that no 
sorrow—still less, undue distrust of yourself— 
may interfere with the exercise of your very noble 
powers, and I should deem it a great privilege if 
you would sometimes allow me to have fellowship 
in your thoughts and sympathy with your pur- 
poses. 

IT have ordered my bookseller to send you 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 3 


copies of all that I have written (though I know 
not of what use it can possibly be to you); and 
if you will insist in having so great an advan- 
tage over me as to give me a little drawing of 
yours in exchange—as Glaucus gave his golden 
arms for Diomed’s brazen ones—I shall hold it 
one of my most precious possessions—but besides 
this, please do a drawing for me as for Mr. Boyce, 
for fifteen guineas. Thus I shall have two draw- 
ings instead of one. And do them at your 
pleasure—of whatever subjects you like best. 

I send the piece of opal of which I spoke, 
by parcels-delivery company, this afternoon. It 
is not a fine piece, but I think you will have 
pleasure in sometimes letting your eye rest upon 
it. I know no colours possessing its peculiar 
character, and a magnifying glass used to its 
purple extremity will show wonderful things in 
it. I hope to be back in London about the 
middle of August, and will immediately come 
to see your pupil’s drawings. A letter directed 
here—Denmark Hill, Camberwell—with “to be 
forwarded ” on it, will always find me. Meantime 


believe me always 


Faithfully yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


4 ROSSETTI TO McCRACKEN 


2. 


Dante Rosserri to Francis McCracken, 
Belfast. 


Some years ago a friend favoured me with a copy 
of this letter. A part of it (relating to Titian, 
Hogarth, &c.) was published in my Memoir of my 
brother, and is therefore omitted here. In the 
phase “Dr. Anthony, a brother of Mark,” the 
powerful landscape-painter Mark Anthony is indi- 
cated. The Dante water-colour of which Rossetti 
speaks is that of Dante draning an Angel in memory 
of Beatrice, which was purchased by Mr. McCracken, 
a merchant or ship-broker at Belfast. ‘“ Hunt’s 
admirable picture’ is The Light of the World. 


5 HIGH STREET, HASTINGS. 
Sunday, 15 May 1854. 


My Derar Mr. McCracken, 
I send you back the letter with thanks. 
Is the writer a Dr. Anthony, a brother of Mark ? 
If so I know him. He seems equally abroad as 
to the authorship and subject of the drawing, and 
cannot have much perception of variety in style, 
or he would not have taken my work for Millais’. 
Thanks for the Dublin University Magazine. 


ROSSETTI TO McCRACKEN 5 


Shall I return it? The article which mentions 
my father contains I see some notice of the Vita 
Nuova among Dante’s other works. (‘That article 
quotes a good deal from Cayley’s Dante: Cayley 
is a friend of mine, and his translation by far the 
most complete rendering of Dante that exists 
in English.) A better and full account you 
would find in an article in Tait’s Magazine some 
years back, if the volumes are accessible any- 
where in Belfast. The article is called, I think, 
Dante and Beatrice, and is by Theodore Martin, 
better known as Bon Gaultier. Rather oddly the 
subject of my drawing which you have is there 
suggested for painting. For my own part, I had 
long been familiar with the work and been in the 
habit of designing all its subjects in different ways 
before I met with that article. I made some 
years ago a translation of the entire Vita Nuova, 
which I have by me, and shall publish one day as 
soon as I have leisure to etch my designs from it. 
Thanks for the paper containing Ruskin’s admir- 
able letter on Hunt’s admirable picture. I had 
already seen it. I had an idea of an intention of 
the possibility of a suggestion that the lady in my 


drawing should be Gemma Donati, whom Dante 


6 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


married afterwards, and for that reason meant to 
have put the Donati arms on the dresses of the 
three visitors, but could not find a suitable way of 
doing so. The visitors are unnamed in the text. 
But I had an idea also of connecting the pitying 
lady with another part of the Vita Nuova, and 
in fact the sketch is full of notions of my own in 
this way which would only be cared about by one 
to whom Dante was a chief study... . 
Yours always, 


D. G. Rossertt. 


3 
Dante Rosserri1 to Mapox Brown, Finchley. 


It will be understood that “ Lizzy ’ here and else- 
where means Miss Siddal ; the like is the case with 
the uneuphonious pet name “Guggum.” Barbara 
Smith became Mrs. Bodichon, and distinguished her- 
self, not only as an amateur landscape-painter of fine 
faculty, but as a leader in many important movements 
for the advancement of women. Miss Anna Mary 
Howitt, daughter of William and Mary Howitt, was 
also a painter of ability ; later on she became Mrs. 
Howitt-Watts. The project of illustrating the old 
Scottish ballads came to nothing; there is, how- 
ever, one pen-and-ink drawing by my brother which 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN) 7 


must have been intended for the series. The last 
passage in this letter (preceding the P.S.) appears 
in the biographical work by Mr. Ford Hueffer, Ford 
Madox Brown. 


5 HIGH STREET, HASTINGS. 
23 May 1854. 

My Dear Brown, 

This letter is partly the result of my 
having got up at half-past seven, partly of the 
inviting look of a clean sheet of paper, and partly 
of a limited degree of personal regard which I 
entertain for you. 

Lizzy, poor dear, continues on the whole much 
the same. I have been here rather more than a 
fortnight, and shall now be returning for a short 
time to London, leaving her here till I can come 
again. She is looking lovelier than ever, but is 
very weak, though not so much as one might 
expect. She has walked a good deal till the last 
day or two, when we have been working. She has 
spent two very pleasant days at Barbara Smith’s 
farm, some miles from here, and just while I write 
a letter reaches me asking us to go down again 
to-day, but I do not suppose we shall, as it is wet. 


Every one adores and reveres Lizzy. Barbara 


8 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


Smith, Miss Howitt, and I, made sketches of her 
dear head with iris stuck in her dear hair the 
other day, and we all wrote up our monograms 
on the panel of the window, in memorial of the 
very pleasant day we had spent at the farm. 
There are most wonderful things to paint there, 
and here and everywhere; but I do not mean 
to paint a single one, as the pursuit of art is 
a bore, except when followed in the dozing 
style. That Guggum is in a state to begin 
her picture, but I do not think she can just yet. 
I think I told you that she and I are going to 
illustrate the old Scottish Ballads which Alling- 
ham is editing for Routledge. She has just done 
her first block (from Clerk Saunders) and it is 
lovely. Her power of designing even increases 
greatly, and her fecundity of invention and facility 


are quite wonderful, much greater than mine. 
Ruskin, . . . Ihear, . . . has something anent 


me in his Lectwres just published. He. . . has 
written, as I suppose you know, to The Times in 
defence of Hunt's Light of the World. He is 
gone to Switzerland, and says he has ordered 
all his works to be sent to my crib. 

. .. Millais has written to me that Gambart 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 9 


wants me to paint him something, so I imagine 
Ruskin is beginning to bear fruit. . . . MacCrac 
has kindly asked me to accept £50 instead of 
35 guineas for that water-colour. 

Have you still any notion of coming here? 
The weather is generally splendid, though not 
so warm, at least indoors, as I had expected. I 
lie often on the cliffs, which are lazy themselves, 
all grown with grass and herbage, not athletic 
as at Dover, not gaunt as at North Shields. 
Sometimes through the summer mists the sea 
and sky are one; and, if you half shut your eyes, 
as of course you do, there is no swearing to the 
distant sail as boat or bird, while just under 
one’s feet the near boats stand together im- 
movable, as if their shadows clogged them and 
they would not come in after all, but loved to see 
the land. So one may lie and symbolize till one 
goes to sleep, and that be a symbol too perhaps. 

Lizzy has just come in to breakfast (I 
did not tell you that we have cribs in the 
same house). She sends her kind regards to 
you, and love to Emma and Katey,! both of 


1 Emma was the second Mrs. Madox Brown; Katey (now Mrs, 
Hueffer), their infant daughter. 


10 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


whom I hope are all right, as well as what is 
left of you, but the intensely misanthropical 
state in which I found you last leads me to 
suspect that you may have been abolished by 
a general vote of your species. If so, I drop a 
tear to your memory, though your faults were 
many, your. virtues few; if not, I am still trying 


to be 
Yours affectionately, 


D. G. Rossetti. 


P.S.—I may perhaps be in town again before 
an answer to this could reach. (Brown log.—As 


if he was going to get one!) 


A, 
JoHN Ruskin to Danre Rossertt. 


The letter from which I here give an extract is 
wofully torn. The first extracted portion evidently 
replies to something that Rossetti had written re- 
garding Millais and Hunt; and regarding his own 
subject of modern life in the picture called Found, 
which work he was now inclined to lay aside on 
the ground that Hunt, in his picture The Awakened 
Conscience (begun and finished at a date later than 
the beginning of Found), had been treating a modern 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 11 


subject of somewhat similar bearing. The “third 
subject,” referred to by Ruskin, may perhaps have 
been from Dante’s Vita Nuova, but of this I have 
no certainty. I remember a little anecdote con- 
nected with Ruskin’s letters to my brother, to © 
which I will give a place here. My brother was 
one day in a picture-gallery (perhaps the National 
Gallery), and he took out of his pocket, for perusal, 
a letter recently received from Ruskin. Some per- 
son (unknown to Rossetti) passed by, and gave a 
glance at the handwriting, and he then said to my 
brother: “Will you excuse me for saying that, in 
passing, my eye happened to fall upon that letter, 
and, being an expert in handwriting, I cannot resist 
the conviction that the writer must be one of the 
most remarkable men living: might I inquire who 
it is?” 
GENEVA. 
15 June 1854. 

. . . I know that, so far from being envious 
of them, you are thoroughly happy in their suc- 
cess; but yet you feel that there is as much in 
you as in them, and you have a kind of gnaw- 
ing pain at not standing side by side with them. 
You feel as if it were not worth while now to 
bring out your modern subjects, as Hunt has 
done his first. Now, as to the original sug- 


gestion of the power which there is in modern 


12 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


life if honestly treated, I firmly believe that, to 
whomsoever it may belong in priority of time, 
it belongs to all three of you rightly in right 
of possession. I think that you, Hunt, and 
Millais, would, every one of you, have made the 
discovery, without assistance or suggestion from 
the other. One might make it quicker or slower 
than another, and I suppose that, actually, you 
were the first who did it. But it would have 
been impossible for men of such eyes and hearts 
as Millais and Hunt to walk the streets of Lon- 
don, or watch the things that pass each day, and 
not to discover also what there was in them to 
be shown and painted... . 

Now for your subjects. I like the two first 
—the Found, and the Mary Magdalene at the 
door of Simon’s House—exceedingly: the latter, 
however, much the best, partly because I have 
naturally a great dread of subjects altogether 
painful, and I can be happy in thinking of Mary 
Magdalene, but am merely in pain while I think 
of the other subject. This first also (the Fownd) 
is a dreadfully difficult one, and I can imagine 
your half-killing yourself in trying to get it 


what you want, in vain. ‘There is one word I do 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 13 


not understand in your description of your third 
subject—the most important word; referring, I 
suppose, to some piece of literature I do not 
know. But as to what you say of your wish 
to unite several scenes in it on an elevated (?) 
horizon, I most entirely agree with you. No 
pictures are so interesting [as those] which tell 
a story in this consecutive way; and it would 
[never have] been given up but for the ridiculous 
“ unities ” which the bad [critics of the] last two 
centuries insisted upon. ‘The fact is—taking [the 
matter in the] most prosaic and severe way—you 
merely paint three [several pictures, and] unite 
them by interlude of background, instead [of 
painting them] separately. What possible objec- 
tion can there be to [this]? .. . 

Please send me some of your translations when 
you have time. 

At present I am resting among the mountains, 
and trying to draw them a little. I do wish, 
when you find yourself in need of a little change 
of thought, you would run as far as Rouen, and 
look at the thirteenth-century sculptures, going 
fast to decay, at the bottom of the doors of the 
north and south transepts. I am thinking of 


14 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


casting them; but they are so mouldered away 
or choked with dust [that I fear] the additional 
bluntness of the cast will set them off [to very 
poor] advantage. You would, I think, be in- 
finitely touched [with these sculptures]. They 
are on a level with the eye—little panels .. . 
about 150 on each door; . . . the finest things 
I know in all the world... . 

I sincerely trust that your best anticipations 


with regard to your pupil may be fulfilled. 
Believe me always 
Most faithfully yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


A letter sent to Billiter Street will always be 


forwarded. 


5. 


Danre Rosserr to Mapox Brown, Finchley. 


This doggrel may perhaps amuse one or two 
readers. White was a picture-dealer in Madox 
Street, who, though not a beral customer to Brown, 
was of some degree of use to him in those years. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 15 


29 July 1854. 
Dear Brown, 


Are you never in town? 

I should have come down, 
But it costs half a crown— 
(At least if it don’t 

The rhyme must account)— 
And not painting anything, 
My work don’t a penny bring. 
I'm glad that old White 
Seems abating his spite ; 
Perhaps he’s not quite 

Such a “gory” old wight; 
So as yet let us hope 

That instead of a rope 

The worthy old scoundrel 
May retain his all-round gill. 
But as to his doings 

And jawings and jewings, 
William brought me the news, 
And he’s far from diffuse. 

So I wish you'd look in 
When you come up for tin 
(Or with ticker to spout it), 
And tell us all about it. 


16 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


And if from these cads 
You've superfluous brads, 

To my crib you may lug ’em 
(Dear Lizzy’s a Guggum), 
Where limited bread 

You shall find, and a bed, 

Or for tea we will ring, 

If to get it you'll bring 

A bob or a tizzy. 

(What a Guggum is Lizzy!) 
If you come though, don’t hollor 
At my evident squalor, 

Nor cut me and run 

At the sight of the dun, 

Nor make for the door 

At the sound of the bore, 
Nor suppose that the landlord 
With lodging will stand board, 
Nor as to my picture 

Throw out any conjecture. 

So now if you come 

To where ego sum, 

You know the condition 
(Dear Lizzy’s a pigeon) 

And now don’t be witty 
Upon D. G. Rosserri. 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 17 


6. 
Mapox Brown’s Diary. 


After Mr. Ford Hueffer’s biography, Ford Madox 
Brown, was all in print, and ready for the publication 
which ensued in 1896, I discovered myself to be 
in possession of some instalments (intrusted afore- 
time to my wife) of Brown’s Diary: a fact whose 
late discovery I regretted, as I would not have 
failed, had I known myself to be the custodian 
of the MS., to impart it to Mr. Hueffer for use in 
his book. The diary contains some curious and 
interesting matter, especially as showing the low 
level at which the worldly fortunes of this very 
distinguished painter stood at the dates here in 
question. I shall not here, however, draw upon 
these details of the diary, but shall limit myself 
almost wholly to those portions of it which relate 
to Dante Rossetti or to Mr. Ruskin. I add brief 
notes wherever they seem to be required. 


Diary resumed on the 16th August 1854... . 
In the interval which this diary shows, to the 
best of my recollection, I painted in the year "50, 
still in Newman Street, first the remainder of 
the Shakespear portrait, for which I was paid 
sixty guineas! ... For the remainder of the 


1 An oil-picture, life-size, three-quarters length, representing 
Shakespear from a combined study of the various authorities, 
B 


18 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


year I worked at the large picture of Chaucer.’ 
. . . Gabriel Rossetti sat for Chaucer, beginning 
at 11 at night, he sitting up beside me on 
the scaffolding sketching while I worked. We 
finished about four in the morning, and the head 
was never subsequently touched. His brother 
William was the troubadour. .. . 

During the winter I painted the study from 
Emma, with the head back laughing, at night 
in Newman Street. All this while Rossetti was 
staying at Newman Street with me, keeping me 
up talking till 4 a.m., painting sometimes all 
night, making the whole place miserable, .. . 
translating sonnets at breakfast, working very 
hard and doing nothing. 

In June [I left Stockwell and Newman Street 
for Hampstead... . 

1854, September 5th.— On Saturday . 
Rossetti came in the middle of the most broil- 
ing sun. I knew he must have come to get 
something. He wanted costumes to paint a 
water-colour of the Passover, this instead of set- 
ting to work on the picture for which he has 


1 Chaucer reading the Legend of Custance at the Court of 
Edward ITT. : a very large oil-picture, now in the Public Gallery 
at Sydney, Australia, 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 19 


been commissioned by McCrack since twelve 
months. His aunt has, moreover, given him £30, 
so that it is not for want of money. However, 
whatever he does is sure to be beautiful. But 
the rage for strangeness disfigures his ideas. . . . 

October 6th.—Called on Dante Rossetti. Saw 
Miss Siddal, looking thinner and more deathlike 
and more beautiful and more ragged than ever ; 
a real artist, a woman without parallel for many 
a long year. Gabriel as usual diffuse and in- 
consequent in his work. Drawing wonderful and 
lovely Guggums one after another, each one a 
fresh charm, each one stamped with immortality, 
and his picture never advancing. However, he 
is at the wall,! and I am to get him a white 
calf and a cart to paint here; would he but 
study the golden one a little more. Poor 
Gabriello. ... 

31st.—At the portrait again. This evening 
Rossetti came. 

lst November.—Up by 9. Sat up talking to 
Gabriel about poetry till 2 in the morning. He 
read me an imitation of an old Scottish ballad,? 


1 7.e, he is engaged in painting the wall in the picture Found. 
2 Stratton Water. 


20 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


which is extremely beautiful, with critiques of 
it done by Allingham, who cuts it up very neatly 
and cleverly, with some truth and error. This 
morning Gabriel was not down to breakfast till 
two hours after me; so, waiting for him, I read 
The Angel in the House, by Patmore, which is 
deplorably tame and tiring. Afterwards Master 
Gabriel came down, and we blustered at some 
length about Allingham, Patmore, Tennyson, &c., 
I maintaining that Longfellow and Smith! were 
incomparably the best men except for Tennyson. 
Gabriel says he has studied the matter all his 
life and should know best. I say that he belongs 
to a party and is prejudiced against all others. 
We went after his calf and succeeded to a mir- 
acle. He is gone to Ruskin for this evening. 'To- 
morrow he returns. After he has talked as much 
as his strength will bear, he becomes spiteful and 
crusty, denying everything, and when chaffed he 
at length grows bitterly sarcastic in his way, 
but never quite unpleasant nor ever unbearable. 

2nd. . . . Gabriel returned at half-past 12. 
Spent till half-past 3 getting him off and going 
to see him begin. Evening, jaw chiefly. 


1 Alexander Smith, a leader in the so-called ‘‘ Spasmodic School.” 





D. GKosselte tty lS. Clb. 
Te Ie 
; She : eee, ae gel, 


mm Lf ya > 
‘ A) yf PPCCTNASSOON of yp Caswall - Sintth . 





MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 21 


3rd, Friday.—Gabriel went off about 11 to 
his calf... . 

12th. . . . Gabriel gone to town to see Miss 
Siddal. Getting on slowly with his calf. He 
paints it in all like Albert Durer, hair by hair, 
and seems incapable of any breadth; but this he 
will get by going over it from feeling at home. 
From want of habit, I see Nature bothers him, 
but it is sweetly drawn and felt... . 

27th.—Out to buy pewter spoons in honour 
of William Rossetti coming to dinner; one being 
broken by Katey and two melted by Ruth,! so 
as to leave but one serviceable out of four. Saw 
Gabriel’s calf; very beautiful but takes a long 
time. Endless emendations, no perceptible pro- 
gress from day to day, and all the time he 
wearing my great-coat, which I want, and a 
pair of my breeches, besides food and an un- 
limited supply of turpentine. . .. Snow came 
on. Evening, William Rossetti. . 

December 6th. . . . Evening, read and talked 
about W. B. Scott’s beautiful poems with 
Gabriel. ‘Then read his Blessed Damozel ; pleas- 


ant evening. 


1 A servant, 


22 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


7th.—To' work about 114 at shawl? (open air). 
Blanket round feet, two coats, shawl and gloves 
on, very cold in spite. Woolner came to see 
Gabriel about Ruskin, in hopes of his helping 
him towards the statue of Wentworth? the Lag: 
took him to see Rossetti where he paints in the 
farmyard. Saw what he is about, done calf and 
almost cart. Woolner back here, dined, and off 
with Gabriel. Writing this, and to W. B. Scott 
about his beauties of poetry. . . . 

9th. . . . Yesterday Gabriel told me a story 
of Hunt, and one of himself, too good .to be for- 
gotten. Hunt when about 12 or 14 was placed 
in care of one of the “League” Bread-shops. 
Becoming acquainted with the topics then in 
vogue among those sort, he takes it in his head 
to write to one of the leading journals his views 
on the matter. The letter was printed and much 
discussed. Cobden called to see him at the shop, 
and, very much surprised, talked to him at great 
length to persuade him he was in error. Hunt 
maintamed he was m the right, and still believes 
himself to be so. ‘This is characteristic. I must 


1 The shawl in the picture named The Last of England. 
2 This statue was wanted for Australia. Mr. Woolner did not 
obtain the commission, 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 23 


remember to ask Hunt when I see him again 
what the subject of his letter was. The other, 
of Rossetti, was that while he was painting the 
wall in his present picture in a lane at Chiswick 
in the open air, a low fellow came up, and after 
many apologies said that he took a great interest 
in art, and that the moss in the wall—nothing 
else was done—reminded him of a picture he used 
much to admire at Dantzic, when in Germany. 
He said it was a celebrated picture of the Last 
Judgment, painted by two brothers—their names 
he forgot—the female heads were very beautiful 
in it. Rossetti asked if the name was Van Eyck ; 
he could not remember. Rossetti afterwards con- 
sulted a dictionary of art, and found that at 
Dantzic there is a celebrated Last Judgment by 
the brothers Van Eyck... . 

13th. . . . Talked about suicide and suicides 
afterwards with Rossetti. 'To bed at 5 a.m. 

This morning, 16th, Gabriel not yet having 
done his cart, and talking quite freely about 
several days yet, having been here since the Ist 
November, and not seeming to notice any hints, 
. . . Emma being within a week or two of her 
confinement, and he having had his bed made 


24 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


on the floor in the parlour one week now, and not 
getting up till eleven, . . . besides my finances 
being reduced to £2. 12s. 6d. which must last till 
20th January, I told him delicately he must go, or 
go home at night by the *bus. This he said was 
too expensive. I told him he might ride to his 
work in the morning, and walk home at night. 
This he said he should never think of. . . . So he 


is gone for the present. 


ah 
Dante Rosserr1 to Mapox Brown. 


The friends at Chiswick were Mr. Thomas Keightley 
and his family. Mr. Keightley (author of The Fairy 
Mythology, Life of Milton, Sc.) had been an old and 
valued friend of our father; we were also very in- 
timate with his nephew, Mr. Alfred Chaworth Lyster, 
who is still numbered among my affectionate friends. 


[ LONDON. 
1854—? September. | 


Dear Brown, 
Will you oblige me with a few words 
as to the way you consider best for getting the 


colourmen to lay a white ground on canvas, .. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 25 


I know you have told it me 100 times, but I never 
can remember that sort of thing. 

My brick wall is “found” at last at Chiswick, 
which consists chiefly, as I ought to have remem- 
bered before, of that material. We have some 
friends there who offer a harbour of refuge for 
self and canvas, so I shall begin at once. Ive 
been long ‘ meaning” Finchley, and shall turn 
up there (in an increased ratio of seediness) 
one of these days, and make you crusty, and 
get crusty myself, about Art as usual. Mean- 


while believe me 
Your affectionate 


D. G. Rosserrt. 
8. 


JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosser. 


[1854—? Septemeer. | 
Dear Rossertt, 


. . . I congratulate you on the weather. 
When you have taken to your rooms again, please 
write me word, as I have a great deal to say to 
you about plans for teaching the workmen this 


winter. 


Ever faithfully yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


- 


26 BELL SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 


9, 
Wituram Bey Scorr fo Wii114AM Rossetti. 


Considering the acrimony with which Mr. Scott, 
in his Autoliographical Notes, spoke of Dante Rossetti 
for having (as he inaccurately phrased it) “ got all his 
friends to prepare laudatory critical articles to fill all 
the leading journals”’ in 1870, it may be amusing to 
find Scott himself doing something in the same line 
at amuch earlierdate. His “book” here mentioned 
was the volume named Poems, published in 1854. I 
quite believ2 that I wrote the article wanted for 
The Illustrated London News, but have forgotten all 
details about it. Of course, the article already pub- 
lished in The Spectator was not mine, although I was 
at that date the regular art-critic of the paper. 
Munro, here named, was the sculptor Alexander 
Munro. 


NEWCASTLE. 
14 Movember 1854. 
My Dear W. M. R., 


I have been looking for a letter from 
you for a.long time—looking in vain. I sent you 
a copy of my book, and have not heard your opinion 
of it; and now I have a suggestion from Munro at 
Oxford, who says if you write a criticism he will 


get it into Mackay’s Illustrated News. Munro 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI QT 


will be back in town in a day or two, he tells me 
by yesterday’s post, and if such a notice of my 
book could appear—that is to say, as the paper’s 
own notice (not with the words “ from a corre- 
spondent ” above it, which would nearly drive one 
mad), I wish you would do it. Not that I wish 
the thing mightily, but in an apathetic way. 
However, from your silence I begin to think you 
find me “a sour and gloomy nature,” as the Spec. 
says (he is a man of wonderful discrimination, 
though, who wrote that article), or “a man of 
little intellectual volition,” as the Weekly News 
and Chronicle has it... . 
Yours, 


W. B. Scorrt. 


10. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante RosseErrt. 


Mr. Ruskin’s return from the Continent to London 
in 1854 seems to have taken place in the early 
autumn. The following letter appears to me to 
have been written soon after his return. Ruskin (as 
will be seen) speaks of “two sketches of the Pass- 
over ’—one of them (I forget the other) was termed 
The Passover in the Holy Family, and is now in the 


28 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


Public Gallery of Oxford. Ruskin also suggests to 
Rossetti six subjects from Dante’s Purgatorio, and 
one from the Paradiso. No. 1 explains itself pretty 
well; the addition referred to would consist of figures 
of an angel and a devil. No. 2 is the Valley of the 
Kings, with the sword-armed angels. No. 3 is Dante 
set down by Lucia at the gate of Purgatory. No. 4, 
the angel guarding the same gate. No. 5, the vision 
of Leah. No. 6, Matilda in the Garden of Eden. 
Rossetti made water-colours of Nos. 5 and 6, but not 
of any of the other subjects indicated by his friend. 


[DENMARK HILL, LONDON. 
? Autumn 1854. | 


Dear Rosser, 

I have been writing to Miss Siddal to- 
day, chiefly to prevent her from writing to me ; but 
there are various details suggested in the letter 
which you and she must consult over. I will 
come into town to see you on Tuesday next, and 
you can then tell me what conclusions you have 
come to. But don’t write, on this subject at 
least; or, if you want to see me before, just write 
that you want to see me, and I will come. 

Now about yourself and my drawings. I am 
not more sure of anything in this world (and I 


am very positive about a great many things) than 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 29 


that the utmost a man can do is that which 
he can do without effort. All beautiful work— 
singing, painting, dancing, speaking—is the easy 
result of long and painful practice. Immediate 
effort always leads to shrieking, blotching, pos- 
turing, mouthing. 

If you send me a picture in which you try to 
do your best, you may depend upon it it will be 
beneath your proper mark of power, and will dis- 
appoint me. . If you make a careless couple of 
sketches, with bright and full colour in them, you 
are sure to do what will please me. If you try 
to do more, you may depend upon it I shall say 
“Thank you for nothing,” very gruffly and sulkily. 

I don’t say this in the slightest degree out of 
delicacy, to keep you from giving me too much 
time. If I really liked the laboured sketch better, 
I would take it at once. I tell you the plain 
truth—and I always said the same to 'Turner—“ If 
you will do me a drawing in three days, I shall be 
obliged to you; but if you take three months 
to it, you may put it behind the fire when it is 
done.” And I should have said precisely the same 
thing to 'Tintoret, or any other very great man. 


I don’t mean to say you oughtn’t to do the 


30 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


hard work. But the laboured picture will always 
be in part an exercise—not a result. You oughtn’t 
to do many careless or slight works, but you ought 
to do them sometimes; and, depend upon it, the 
whole cream of you will be in them. 

Well, the upshot of all this is, however, that I 
am very much struck by these two sketches of 
the Passover, and that I want you to work out 
the doorway one as soon as possible, with as much 
labour as.you like; but no more rubbings out. 
And when it is done, I want you to give me the 
refusal of it—at the price at which you would 
sell it to any indifferent person. I shall be very 
grateful if you will do this, and if you will do 
it soon? But my two sketches are, please, to be 
done first and fast. It may perhaps rather help 
you than encumber you if I suggest to you some, 
for example :— 

1. Buonconte of Montefeltro and Pia of Siena 
waiting behind him, Buonconte uttering the line, 
“Giovanna o altri,” &c., with any possible sug- 
gestion of line 102-105—in the distance. 

2. Purgatory, canto 7, verse 72 to 78, combined 
with canto 8, verse 8 to 15, and 26 to 30; choos- 
ing whichever you think it was of the spirits that 


Bas 2 ee : fe? UIMEGILM ASIA “DD . 
iy 


LQ) FD, yp G5 





RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 31 


sang ‘Te lucis,” and one other as a type of the 
crowd. 


3. Purgatory, canto 9, verses 60-66. 


A. i ADs isc GO BLO. 
5. Fe 4a Ree I ey 
6. re eos ae 102-54. combined 


with 68, 69. I merely name them by way of 
example of the sort of thing I should like— 
don’t limit yourself to these if you have been 
thinking of any other. 

Stay, I must make out a complete number— ~ 
suppose for seventh Piccarda and Costanza in 


the moon. 
Ever affectionately yours, 


J. RusKIN. 


Li 
Joun Ruskin to Dante Rossetrt. 


“That play” is clearly the Joseph and his Brethren 
by Charles Wells. 


[DENMARK HILL. 


? 1854.] 
Dear Rosser, 


I think you are mistaken respecting 
that play. I have read a great deal. Portions 


32 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


are good descriptively, and some Potiphar’s wife 
is good; but as a whole it is wrong. But can 
you dine with us on Thursday at 6? (and not 
be too P.R.B. as Stanfield is coming too !)—but 
Ive no other time for a chat. 
Ever affectionately yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


12. 


Forp Mapox Brown’s Diary, Jan. 25 to 
Dec. 31, 1855. 


... 1855, 25th January. . . . Last night I was 
at Seddon’s and there saw Mary Howitt; she is 
unaffected and dresses nicely, two rare qualities 
in a poetess. Seddon’s sister very beautiful, only 
15.1. Tom in full Arabicals. Christina Rossetti 
put on a Syrian dress . . . Rossetti is teaching 
away at the Mechanics’ College, Red Lion Square ; 
makes the fellows draw each other. . . . 

28th, Sunday. . . . Last night I dined at the 
Rossettis’.. Gabriel, who invited me, never came 
home, of course. Woolner was there in fumes sul- 
phureous about the ministry and aristocracy. . . . 

Thursday, 15th February.—To London... . 

1 This I understand to be his sister Emily, now Mrs, Tebbs. 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 33 


At the Gallery found Gabriel Rossetti and his 
sister looking at my picture. Went to Black- 
friars with him; wasted my time, as is inevitable 
when I get some one to talk to. . . . 

March 10th. ... I had a letter from Rossetti, 
Thursday, saying that Ruskin had bought all 
Miss Siddal’s (“* Guggum’s”) drawings, and said 
they beat Rossetti’s own. This is like Ruskin, 
the incarnation of exaggeration. However, he 
is right to admire them. She is a stunner and 
no mistake. Rossetti once told me that, when 
he first saw her, he felt his destiny was defined. 
Why does he not marry her? He once told me 
that Hannay, when he first knew him, used to 
be so hard up that he used never to be at 
home in the daytime because of his “rent.” 
He used to go out before the people were up, 
and go home when they were in bed. This 
was constant with him, and he never apparently 
ate at all. When he had a little money, he used 
to go and get beer or grog with it. Rossetti 
and he, having been all the forenoon together, 
found about sixpence between them on which 
to refresh themselves. Rossetti proposed to 


go to some a-la-mode-beef place, and get as 
C 


34 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


much to eat as it would afford. Hannay quite 
stared ; he expected it was to go for beer. How- 
ever, Rossetti stuck out for food of a_ solid 
nature, and prevailed. Hannay now does well. 
. His Satire and Satirists is a delightful 

book, and will last. They say his wife and child 
are very beautiful... . 

17th. . . . ToSeddon’s, to meet Millais, Rossetti, 
and Collins. Rossetti in joyful state about Miss 
Siddal, who has got lots to do, and Mrs. 'Tenny- 
son insists upon her having a share of the illustra- 
tions to ‘Tennyson.’ Sooner than not, she writes 
to Moxon, “she will pay for them herself.” Con- 
versation between Seddon, Millais, and Collins, 
highly moral and religious ; they of opinion that 
no really good man is ever unsuccessful in life. If 
he dies and leaves a wife and fifteen children, 
they are sure to be well provided for, and he not 
to bother about [it]; Millais citing as instances 
two examples to the contrary of irreligious men 
going to the dogs. Rossetti off early. . . . 

21st.—Up at 9, to work by 10; boy’s comforter ; 
very cold. . . . Read King Arthur... 


1 This did not come to anything ; I don’t know the details, 
2 This may perhaps have been the beginning of the Arthurian 
furor in the circle of Brown, Rossetti, &c. 


DG. Kossella. 


CARD 4 ‘ F) 
. SLE LeU Cup. 


? o % , 
: Duy Pernessien pf ye laswall.S mith 








MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 35 


31st.—Up by 9, to work by 10. Painted two 
cabbages. Rossetti came and bothered me just 
as I was engaged on the second. Worked till 
dark, and then tea and talk till 2 a.m., he doing 
water-colours for Ruskin and Miss Heaton.! 
The usual jargon about art; brought Crabbe with 
him. 

April \st. . . . Stopped at home to work, 
but through talk did not begin till near one. 
Talking about King Arthur, in praise of [it], and 
how it would illustrate ... 

6th, Good Friday.—Church. Seddon in the 
evening. Received a disagreeable intelligence. 
John P. Seddon is building a cathedral in 
Wales’; he has persuaded the Bishop to have 
a painting on the altar, and his brother asks if I 
think Rossetti would undertake it,—when he has 
bought my King Lear at an auction for £15, and 
knows I am on the point of being driven out of 
England through general neglect. It is to toady 
Ruskin. I do not grudge Rossetti the work, but 
in truth Seddon need not ask me my opinion 
about it. However, let it pass like others. 


1 A lady at Leeds known to Ruskin. 
2 He was restoring the cathedral of Llandaff. 


36 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


Sth. . . . William Rossetti dined with us. 
A walk at dusk and talk with him. Says 
Gabriel pitched into Wornum about Waagen at 
Lucy’s supper, Wornum! having presumed to 
quote him. Miss Siddal going to Ruskin. . . . 

13th. . . . This evening a letter from Gabriel 
saying Ruskin . . . had made two propositions to 
Miss Siddal; . . . one to buy all she does one by 
one, the other to give her £150 a year for all she 
does, and, if he sold them for more, the difference 
to be hers; if not, tokeep them. D.G. R. in glee. 

14¢h.—Out to the City to get £20 from the 
Bourn * to pay the rent ; made him give it me. To 
Rossetti’s, where came Miss Siddal, whom I ac- 
companied to sundry colourmen; to the Pantheon 
to meet Gabriel, who of course was not to be 
found. 'Then to dine, having after much trouble 
found him; then to his mother’s, where I slept. 
Miss Siddal’s first interview with ditto. Late talk 


while Gabriel saw her home. 


1 Mr. Wornum was (or became) Secretary to the National Gallery. 
Dante Rossetti must have ‘‘ pitched into him about Waagen,” on 
the ground that Dr. Waagen (a German connoisseur prominent 
in those days) had written in depreciation of the Praraphaelite 
movement, and Wornum (it may be supposed) cited Waagen as a 
ood authority on some art-matter or other. 

2 Ravensbourn Wharf, Greenwich, owned in part by Brown. 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 37 


15th, Sunday.—With Gabriel and William 
called to see Mary Howitt; she notup.... 

21st. . . . Rossetti and Miss Sid came per ’bus 
to-night. 

22nd.—Rossetti and Miss Sid here all day, one 
of perfect repose. Talk till 2 a.m. 

23rd.—Do. and do. here still. . . . 

May 20th.—To town to see if Rossetti would join 
in a newly projected exhibition, being of opinion 
that, unless he and Anthony would, it could have 
no chance. Of course he would not, being the 
incarnation of perverseness. Miss Siddal there, 
looking better. Rossetti, after much desultory 
conversation, began abusing Cave 'Thomas’s pic- 
ture! ... At last I lost my temper. . . . It ended 
in my telling him to keep to hes friends, as, to 
me, his ways were disagreeable. So I went off, 
for the first time parting in dudgeon. He has 
left off abusing his enemies, that apparently 
having lost its zest from over-use, and now 
vituperates his friends,—or those of the person 
addressed, as more provoking. 

21st—To town to prevent Seddon from com- 
mitting himself in any way. Stopped all day: in 


1 The picture was named Rivalry. 


38 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


the evening the meeting. . . . Gabriel held out 
his hand as though nothing were ; so I said I had 
been too crusty, and it passed off. . . . 

July 13th.—After dinner into London per "bus, 
the heat intense, and I feeling apoplectic. ... 
Rossetti’s for the night; never spent a pleasanter 
evening. Scott, Hannay, Paul,! Leifchild, brother 
of the sculptor, Munro, Hughes, Martineau,” and 
William Rossetti, all in charming humour till 
1 a.m. Heat intense and lots of strawberries. I 
forgot Cayley, the translator of Dante, who looks 
mad, and is always in a rumpled shirt, without 
collar, and old tail-coat. Stopped up talking with 
Gabriel till 3, then talked in bed with him till 5. 
After breakfast concocted a letter with him for 
the Marchioness of Waterford, declining to give 
her lessons a4 domicile by my advice. ‘Then took 
it to Mivart’s and back to the studio. ‘There, 
while I was smoking a pipe in shirt-sleeves, ‘‘ enter 
to us” Ruskin. Ismoke, he talks divers nonsense 
about art hurriedly in shrill flippant tones. I 
answer him civilly, then resume my coat and pre- 
pare to leave. Suddenly upon this he says, “ Mr. 


1 A scientific chemist, intimate more particularly with Hannay. 
2 Arthur Hughes and Robert B. Martineau the painters, 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 39 


Brown, will you tell me why you chose such a 
_ very ugly subject for your last picture?” I, dumb- 
foundered at such a beginning from a stranger, 
look in his face expectant of some qualification, and 
ask “ What picture?” To which he, looking 
defyingly, answers, “ Your picture at the British 
Exhibition. What made you take such a very 
ugly subject? It was a pity, for there was some 
nice painting in it.” I, from his manner, coupled 
with the knowledge of his having praised the sub- 
ject to Gabriel a few days before, being satisfied 
that he intended impertinence, replied contemptu- 
ously, “‘ Because it lay out of a back window,” 
and, turning on my heel, took my hat and wished 
Gabriel good-bye. Ruskin seemed by this time 
in high dudgeon, and would not look at me as I 
left the room. So much for my first interview. 
. . . It would appear that his vanity was hurt at 
my not hanging longer on his skirts, and vented 
itself in impertinence. . . . 

15th.—Gabriel and Scott dined here. Emma 
enchanted with Scott, as all women are; a truly 

1 These little incidents (it may be inferred) were the immediate 
cause of the animosity which Madox Brown constantly expressed 


against Ruskin. He had, however, other and more solid motives, 
both personal and general, 


40 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


nice fellow and an honour to know. 'Took him to 
the Brent, and he chaffed Gabriel about his 
religion,! which I, knowing he does not relish, 
gently averted. . . . 

August 6th. . . . To Rossetti, to see and make 
part of a collection of fossils which he had dug up, 
namely, Cross,? Lucy, Anthony, Woolner, Munro, 
Seddon, and William Rossetti, and the young in- 
ductive parson.? These “ Ancient Pistols” fired 
away in the style common to the species, with 
loud report and much smoke, till at last they all 
went off together about 12, and I remained talking 
to Rossetti till 3 a.m. He showed me a drawer 
full of “ Guggums”; God knows how many, but 
not bad work, I should say, for the six years he 
has known her ; it is like a monomania with him. 
Many of them are matchless in beauty, however, 
and one day will be worth large sums. 

{th.—Slept at Blackfriars; out with D. G. R. 
to Stafford House to meet Munro and _ the 
parson ; found Seddon and his wife there. ‘The 


1 Dante Rossetti had not at this time (nor at others) much 
religion of a definable kind, but he had a certain propensity 
towards it, whereas W. B. Scott was an avowed disbeliever. 

2 John Cross, the historical painter. 

3 This was the Rey. Charles Anderson, who had been a school- 
fellow of mine. 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 41 


magnificence of the place, such as I had never 
witnessed but in palaces, gave food for much reflec- 
tion, and made the visit a very pleasant one and full 
of new emotions. Oh how strange a place is this 
world! Only those seem to possess power who don’t 
know how to use it. What an accumulation of 
wealth and impotence! Is this what is gained by 
stability and old institutions? Is it for this that 
a people toils and wears out its myriad lives? For 
such heaping up of bad taste, for such gilding 
of hideousness, for such exposure of imbecility, as 
this sort of thing is! Oh how much more beauti- 
ful would six model labourers’ cottages be, built by 
aman of skill for £100 each! As Carlyle says, 
* Knough to make not only the angels, but the 
very jackasses weep.” Saw Miss Siddal, beauti- 
fully dressed for about £3, altogether looking 
like a queen... . 

13th.—Rossetti and Miss Siddal here. . . . 

15th.— Rossetti here still, painting at his 
drawing of Rachel and Leah.’ I suggested his 
putting in Dante in the distance and sundry great 
improvements, and now he is in spirits with it and 
will ask £5 more for it... . 

1 Dantes Vision of Rachel and Leah, sold to Ruskin. 


42 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


16th.—Emma went into town with Miss 
Siddal before Rossetti was come in from his room 
at the Queen’s Head, so that when he did come 
his rage knew no bounds at being done out of the 
society of Guggum, and vented itself in abuse of 
Emma, who “ was always trying to persuade Miss 
Sid that he was plaguing her,” &c. &c., whereas 
of course Miss Sid liked it as much as he did, 
&c. &c. . . . I did not know whether to laugh 
most or to be angry, so did both, laughed at him 
and damned him, and at length thought it best to 
tell him where he could find them, as Betsy was to 
follow them as soon as she could dress Nolly ! and 
join them in Kentish ‘Town. ‘This appeased him, 
and presently off he started. I took a shower- 
bath, not having had one since Miss Sid came, she 
having my room. After this, much pleased to be 
at peace once again, I set to work at the portion 
of ship’s netting that covers the piece added to the 
side of the panel. Went and cut a cabbage in the 
garden, placed it, and worked well from about 
half-past 11 till half-past 4, when back came 
Betsy with a note from Rossetti to say I must 
be at Chatham Place by 5, as they were all going 


1 Oliver Madox Brown, then an infant. 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 43 


to the play. This just as I was getting in cue for 
work. In much dudgeon I dined and dressed and 
off to Hampstead, getting to Blackfriars in time 
to find a note saying [I] was to follow them, to 
Astley’s of all places in the world. . . . Then to 
Astley’s to inquire when the performance ended. 
Walked over as the crowd came out, but they 
were gone. So in a cheerful temper I off to 
Blackfriars, and there found Gabriel gone and 
Miss Siddal in bed; so backed out of it, and past 
12 went and got a bed, Emma being gone to sleep 
at her mother’s. . . 

September 15th.—All this week I have only 
worked one day, Tuesday. ... Wednesday I packed 
up the picture carefully in a sheet, and took it to 
old White in a cab at his request... . Then to 
Rossetti’s, where Emma was to meet me, to dine 
and go with him and Miss Sid to Drury Lane 
by orders. When we got there, he had forgotten 
that after a certain hour we could not get in, so 
Emma and I paid 5s. and he and Guggum went 
home. We were late and ill-pleased, discomfort 
and heat fierce and intolerable, acting (English 
operatics) do. ; altogether before it was over I felt 


ill, and by next morning, Thursday, was quite so, 


44 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


being still at Rossetti’s. Stopped in bed all day 
in a raging fever in the midst of all manner of 
squalor and discomfort, Emma having to nurse 
Nolly, who did not seem to relish the change. 
Ruskin came meanwhile and Rossetti ignored us, 
the baby giving an occasional squall from the 
next room. Rather better towards night, dear 
Emma doing all she could for me. Passed a 
second sleepless night there with an intense feel- 
ing of nausea. Next day, yesterday, felt somewhat 
better and got up to breakfast. Poor Stephens ? 
came in, and Rossetti (not liking him of late, I 
believe owing to his speaking irreverentially on 
the subject of Guggum) told him Mrs. Brown was 
in the next room ill, and that J therefore would 
not come in. I did come, however, but Stephens 
seemed at a loss and soon left. Altogether it was 
a scene of the strangest physical and moral con- 
fusion, . . . and feeling of reckless extravagance, 
for altogether this going to the play by orders 
cost me £2. 10s. Gabriel being scant of tin, we 
had to pay for all we had, and his laundress 
charges hotel-prices, I do believe. However, 


1 Frederic George Stephens, the art-critic, who had been a 
member of the P.R.B. 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 45 


except that I was ill we were merry enough, 
although, as Gabriel says, Ruskin had been stick- 
ing pins into him, as was his wont for a couple 
of hours every three days. Got back here by 6, ill 
but rejoicing, quite determined never again to go 
to the play by Rossetti’s orders. 'This morning I 
am still in bed at 2 p.m., but feeling well again, and 
I hope I am so, as there is but two weeks now to 
get a house in. In bed till 3; then dressed, and 
walked into the neighbourhood of the Swiss 
Tavern to look for houses. Emma was done up, 
having walked full five miles; so I put her in a 
cab and sent her to see a family reported to be 
in great distress, and, as we had met Thomas 
Woolner, I walked with him ; he can get nothing 
to do whatever. Met Emma at the Rossettis’. 
Bill just back from Paris ; now thinks the French ! 
the only art-nation in the world ; so men change. 
Back per ’bus with bad cold. . . . 

23rd.—I was in bed Monday and Tuesday 
with a cold. Christina Rossetti came here from 
Tuesday even till Saturday. There is cold- 
ness between her and Gabriel because she and 


1 J don’t think I regarded (or professed to regard) the French as 
‘* the only art-nation in the world,” but as decidedly at the head 
of European art, 


46 MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 


Guggum do not agree.' She works at worsted 
ever, and talks sparingly. . . 

22nd October.—TVhis month has passed without 
entries. .. . I have lent £15 to Gabriel... . 
Guggum . . . was to have gone to France. . . 
She is gone, and I hope Gabriel will work all the 
better for it. He has finished his Rachel and Leah, 
for which Ruskin gave him 30 guineas instead of 
20 asked; and since has finished another of 
Launcelot offering to kiss Queen Guinever at 
the tomb of King Arthur, for which he had 20, 
having asked 15. Also Ruskin. 

Qnd December.—I have delayed all this time 
filling in because I had made a breach, which to 
fill up was a trouble. . . . Miss Siddal has gone 
to Nice with a cousin of Rossetti’s, Mrs. Kincaid. 
After she had been gone six weeks or so, letter 
came to Gabriel saying she had spent all his 
money at Paris. Gabriel, who saw that none 
of the drawings on the easel could be completed 


before long, began a fresh one, Francesca di 


1 T do not remember that there was ever anything in the nature 
of a ‘‘ disagreement’”’ between Miss Siddal and Christina. Dante 
Rossetti had recently brought the two together, and his ardour 
for Miss Siddal made him think that Christina was not ade- 
quately impressed by her, This seems to me to have been the 
whole matter. 


MADOX BROWN’S DIARY 47 


Rimini, in three compartments ; worked day and 
night, finished it in a week, got 35 guineas for 
it from Ruskin, and started off to relieve them. 
Saw her off by rail for Nice, and came back in 
another week. This is how Gabriel can work 
ona pinch. I must say, however, that as yet my 
£15 are in abeyance, but I live in hope. Ruskin 
sold his Rachel to Miss Heaton for 40 guineas ; 
I suppose he [Rossetti] had the difference. He 
will grow rich at this rate, perhaps pay his 
debts. He says there was nothing at all com- 
parable to Ingres and Delacroix at the Beaux 
Arts; Delacroix specially he now thinks the 
greatest painter of modern times. I have always 
stuck up for Delacroix, although seeing but few 
OG his works. . ... 

3lst. . . . Last night our chimney took fire. 
Emma saw one spark fall; laziness itself could 
make nothing out of it but the chimney on 
fire; so we looked and it was so; water and wet 
blanket seemed ineffectual; in the street passers 
talked of “smell of soot.” Sparks seen from 
chimney: so I had to put down my cigar and 
go right at it—up the trap and on to the 


slates, and stuff a blanket down the aperture, 


48 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI—DREAM 


there waiting one quarter. Complete success re- 
sulted from these bold and vigorous measures. — 
In the meantime Gabriel had also made himself 
useful. Emma found him raking the live coals 
out all over the room; large holes in our new 
Kidderminster of claret powdered with chocolate 
fleurs de lis. Described to him my new subject 
of Christmas?; he approves. Gabriel was such 
a swell as I never saw before, but looking 
really splendid, everything about him in perfect 
taste except his shoes; it will be some time 
before he goes that length. Otherwise his 
brown suit was most in the fashion; he looked 
handsome and a gentleman, talking of buying 
a “ ticker,” but not of paying me back my £15, 
alas! However, he has sent Miss Sid in all £55 


since her departure. . . . 


13. 
Nore sy Curistina Rosserri—A Dream. 


I cannot say what is the real date of this note, 
but put it in as if proper to 1855. The last para- 
graph, “This real dream,” &c., is evidently of much 
later date—say 1880. 


1 This subject was not painted ; it was to be a family-group. 


ROSSETTI TO TUPPER 49 


Night, but clear with grey light. Part of 
church in the background with the clock-side 
towards the spectator. In the churchyard many 
sheep with good innocent expressions; one espe- 
cially heavenly. Amid them with full face a 
Satan-like goat lying, with a kingly look and 
horns. ‘Three white longish-haired dogs in front, 
confused with the sheep though somewhat smaller 
than they: one with a flattering face, a second 
with head almost entirely turned away, but what 
one sees of the face sensual and abominable.— 
My dream, C. G. RB. 

This real dream left me with an impression it 
was my duty to paint the. above subject as a 
picture—contingent duty, perhaps. Of course I 
never became competent. 


14. 
Dante Rosserri to Joun Tupper. 


This letter, it will be seen, refers principally to 
some writings by Tupper, with the details of which 
I am not familiar. ‘The first writing spoken of, of 
which the rather scanty incidents are detailed, was, 
I presume, in prose. The Crayon was an American 
magazine, dealing chiefly with matters of fine art. 

D 


50 ROSSETTI TO TUPPER 


I need scarcely add that the person addressed is the 
John Lucas Tupper some of whose poems were 
edited and published by me in 1897. 


14 CHATHAM PLACE, BLACKFRIARS. 
Dear Jack, Thursday night 17 Jan. 1855. 

A party being ill is taken to Florence, 
where he gets well. Then takes a walk in the 
Campo Santo. ‘Then fumbles in a cupboard, and 
then is going to meet with an adventure. Is 
that it? If not, I give it up. But if it is, 
I don’t see the difficulty—that is, beyond the 
usual 19th-century fog, which one feels swindled 
without by this time. 

If you don’t know, I do, that you are a 
genuine poet; but ’m sure we both know that 
there are a good many such nowadays—a con- 
viction which results with me, when a poem 
begins buzzing in my head, in an utter inade- 
quacy to the job of writing it down. But I 
believe the other view is the rational one; and 
that one ought no more to do as I do than, 
on the death of one’s father the nabob, to kick 
one’s cheque-book into the grate because all one’s 
fourteen brothers and sisters had volumes of the 


same work. 


ROSSETTI TO TUPPER 51 


Both the poems seem to me excellent. I think 
I prefer the one in blank verse, but fancy the 
first spondee marked were better away, — the 
second seems harmless. I really suspect that, if 
I had by me a mass of poems in as good con- 
dition as I fancy yours to be in, I should nerve 
myself up to begin thinking of taking into serious 
consideration the propriety of perhaps entertain- 
ing an idea of eventual print and paper. In 
serious earnest, so far as I can judge for you, 
I believe it might be your best plan to publish. 
I must also really thank you for your friendly 
way of asking my advice, and surprising me with 
the discovery that any one cares to have it on 
any human matter,—also for sight of poems. I 
read some time back, and liked much, the one 
on Hunt’s picture in The Crayon. 

If ever you've a leisure evening to be forlorn 
in, and are not too far away to look in for my 
help to that end, can such a shocking bad visitor 
as I am venture to hope you'll do so? Or better, 
would you write me word what evening ? 

Yours very sincerely, 
D. G. Rosserrt. 

Kind regards to all at home. 


Y 


Lis 
RIVER 


52 RUSKIN TO W. ROSSETTI 


15. 
JoHn Ruskin to Dante Rosserttt. 
[? 1855.] 
Dear Rosserti, 

If you can come to the meeting specified 
in enclosed ticket it would be very nice. I shall 
be there D.V. But not at college on Thursday— 
session is over. ‘There is no fear about teaching. 
All that the men want is to see a few touches 
done, and to be told where and why they are 
wrong in their own work, in the simplest possible 


way. 


Faithfully yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


16. 
Joun Ruskin to Wrii1am Rossetrt. 


This letter begins by referring to the American 
art-paper T'he Crayon. Its editor Mr. Stillman (then 
a landscape-painter and writer, lately the corre- 
spondent in Rome for The Times, and well known as 
an author), had asked Mr. Ruskin to name some 
person who could write for Zhe Crayon a monthly 


RUSKIN TO W. ROSSETTI 53 


summary of art-matters in England. Mr. Ruskin 
was so good as to name me, and [ did the work for 
a couple of years or so. The letter afterwards refers 
to a London publication named The Artist, and to 
a letter I had got published there refuting some 
mis-statements as to Ruskin’s utterances on various 
questions of fine art. 
DENMARK HILL. 


13 february 1855. 
My Dear Sir, 


I was much gratified by receiving your 
letter, as it assured me of being able to send a 
satisfactory reply to Mr. Stillman, and, which is 
a matter of somewhat more importance, assured 
me of the American public being well and faith- 
fully guided in matters of art, so far as they trust 
to the London correspondent of The Crayon. 

I will not thank you for your letter in The 
Artist ; for I believe that you are one of the few 
who understand the real rank of a critic, and who 
do not think that the assertion of truth ought to 
be considered as a personal favour. But I may 
perhaps express to you the pleasure I felt (and 
it is the very rarest of all the pleasures I have) in 
meeting with some one who can understand, or 
who will take the pains to understand, what I 


have written, reasonably. I know plenty of people 


54 A VALENTINE 


who can be tickled by fine words, or moved by 
the expression of a sentiment they like. But 
of people who can see the four sides of a square 
at once, or follow the steps of an argument for 
ten minutes, I do not, among all my acquaint- 
ance, know half-a-dozen. I have written to Mr. 
Stillman, and hope you will soon hear from him. 
Believe me, with many thanks, 
Very faithfully yours, 
J. Rusk. 
ies 
Dante Rosserri—A VALENTINE. 

I don’t know which year this belongs to. It 
speaks of Miss Siddal as being absent, but (seem- 
ingly) as if she could enter at any moment, This 
would exclude from count the year 1856, when she 
was away at Nice. The verses are amusing, and, 
though they were not suited for The Collected Works 
of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, they may come in here. 

[15 Hebruary 1855.) 
Yesterday was St. Valentine. 
Thought you at all, dear dove divine, 
Upon the beard in sorry trim 
And rueful countenance of him, 


That Orson who’s your Valentine ? 


A VALENTINE 55 


He daubed, you know, as usual. 

The stick would slip, the brush would 
fall : 

Yet daubed he till the lamplighter 

Set those two seedy flames astir ; 


But growled all day at slow St. Paul. 


The bore was heard ere noon; the dun 
Was at the door by half-past one: 

At least *tis thought so, but the clock— 
No Lizzy there to help its stroke— 
Struck work before the day begun. 


At length he saw St. Paul’s bright orb 
Flash back—the serried tide absorb 
That burning West which it sucked up 
Like wine poured in a water-cup ; 


And one more twilight toned his daub. 


Some time over the fire he sat, 

So lonely that he missed his cat ; 
Then wildly rushed to dine on tick— 
Nine minutes swearing for his stick, 
And thirteen minutes for his hat. 


56 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


And now another day is gone : 

Once more that intellectual one 
Desists from high-minded pursuits, 
And hungry, staring at his boots, 
Has not the strength to pull them on. 


Come back, dear Liz, and, looking wise 

In that arm-chair which suits your size, 
Through some fresh drawing scrape a hole. 
Your Valentine and Orson’s soul 


Is sad for those two friendly eyes. 


18. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rossertt. 


Dear Rossetti, [? Hebruary 1855.] 

Will you thank Mr. Cayley exceedingly 
for his kind present? I deeply regret that I 
cannot give him and you the pleasure which I am 
conceited_.enough to think you would both feel in 
my concurrence in your estimate of this transla- 
tion. I think Mr. Cayley has failed simply by 
endeavouring the impossible. No poem can be 
translated in rhyme, for the simple reason that in 
composition a poet arranges his thoughts some- 


what with respect to the rhyme. ‘The translator 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 57 


cannot do this, and therefore must sacrifice all 
grace and flow to his rhyme, and often truth also. 
You call this a literal translation. I open it at 
random, and I come upon the reading of the 


exquisite Come zt gru, &c. Now observe— 


‘* And as the cranes, chanting their lays, do fly.” 


This “do fly” is bad English—that is to say, 
useless double wording for the sake of the 
rhyme. But also Dante doesn’t say “fly.” He 
says “go.” The “fly” is for the sake of the 
rhyme, and substitutes insipidity for simplicity. 
But further— chanting their lays.” Lat is not 
lays. A lay may be a merry song. Laz are 
lamentations—as accurately as possible translated 
by Cary “dolorous notes.” Here the apparent 
literalness of the new translation is actwal in- 


fidelity. Further— 
“In one long line upon the air outspread.” 


“Outspread ” is for the rhyme. It is not in Dante, 
and it is nonsense. A line cannot be spread. It 
can only be extended or continued. Cary is 
accurate—“ Stretched out in long array,” only 


using “ sky” for “ air” in the line before. 


} 


58 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


And so I could go on. I write this for you 
only, because I think your taste is as yet unformed 
in verse, and, so that the thought be good, you 
have not enough studied modes of expression. 
Would you kindly thank Mr. Cayley simply for 
me? if he wants to know my opinion, telling him 
as gently as possible. I am particularly sulky 
at his retaining that old blunder about Semi- 
ramis—succe instead of suge@e—making milk and 
water of the sting of the whole passage. 

Please give the enclosed to your brother. I 
was utterly astonished the other day by finding 
it in my letter-drawer. You see by the date how 
‘long it has been there. I have written to your 
pupil; there is some treason in the letter about 
you; ask her to show it you. 

I am afraid I must put off the pleasure of 
seeing you and your brother on ‘Tuesday, because 
I want you both to come and dine with us, and 
I am in arrears of work and it is tumbling on my 
head, and I can’t get two evenings this week. I 
will write again to-night to tell you which day 


I want you to come if you can; but it will be 


. r N ‘aj 7 
after "Tuesday. Ever most truly yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 59 


19. 
JoHN Ruskin fo DANTE RosseErtt. 


The details indicated in this letter and in the 
succeeding one were more or less as follows :—Miss 
Heaton, acting through Ruskin, was to have bought 
a water-colour by Rossetti, perhaps Dante's Dream 
of the Death of Beatrice. Ruskin, liking the be- 
ginning of this work, retained it for himself. Then 
Rossetti had to offer Miss Heaton her choice 
between two other water-colours, a Paolo and 
Francesca and the Leah and Rachel. ‘The phrase “I 


> 


will send my dolls” is not clear: but I understand 


it to mean that Mr. Ruskin would send to Miss 
Heaton the latter painting (jocularly termed “ The 
dolls”’ by himself and Rossetti), while Rossetti was 
to send the former one. 


[? 1855.] 
Dear Rosserrt, 


You are quite right in all you say, 
only I extend my notions of my deservings to 
such a conceited extent as to plead not only for 
myself but for my friends. ‘That is to say, Miss 
Heaton and other people, when they put them- 
selves into my hands and say ‘** What pictures 
shall I buy ?” ought, I think, not to be treated 


as strangers, but as in a sort my clients and 


60 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


protégés. And although Miss Heaton never heard 
of the Beatrice, remember, it was begun for her, 
and, when I saw it was to be good, I took it for 
myself. Unless I had told her plainly this trick 
of mine, I could not have slept with a peaceful 
conscience; and, having played her this trick, I 
am bound not to let her pay as much for a 
drawing she will not like so well, which I think 
I do in fairness to you by raising my own 
payment. Indeed, I think your drawings worth 
twenty times what you ask for them, and yet 
you must consider market value in all things, 
and a painful and sad-coloured subject never 
fetches so much, on the average, as a pleasant 
and gay one. 

I forgot ; remember, in market, oil fetches 
always about six or seven times as much as 
water-colour. Very foolish it is, but so it is. 

I have just got enclosed from Miss H[eaton]. 
You see how kind she is to us both. 

Now I really must have both the drawings 
sent down to her for her to choose. This is 
not on refusal. For, first, consider both mine. 
Now I have certainly a right to sell them again, 


and to offer whom I choose choice of them. 


4 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 61 


So I write to Miss H[eaton] she shall see both, 
and before J see the new one; so please send it 
down to her, 31 Park Square, Leeds, immediately, 
and I will send my dolls. 

Ever most affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


You must not be vexed if she chooses the new 


one. It may do you credit at Leeds... . 


20.. 
JOHN Ruskin fo Danre Rosserri. 
[? 1855. 
Dear R., 

I have written to Miss H|eaton] giving 
accurate account of all our proceedings, and how 
I have pounced upon the Beatrice, which should 
have been hers, offering her either Rachel at 
25, or Francesca at 35 guineas. You must not 
make her pay more than I do. If she does not 
take it, I will give 35 for it. So instead of 
chance between 40 and 30, you have sure 35. 

Truly yours, 


J. Rusk. 


62 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


Die 
JoHN Ruskin to Miss Sippat. 


This must have been a long letter. I only find 
the second sheet of it. 


[DENMARK HILL, 
? April 1855. ] 

. would not receive such a present from 
me, though you knew that it was as much my 
duty to give it as yours to take it. 

The world is an odd world. People think 
nothing of taking my t¢me from me every day 
of my life (which is to me life, money, power, 
all in all). They take that, without thanks, 
for no need, for the most trivial purposes, and 
would have me lose a whole day to leave a 
card with their footmen; and you, for life’s 
sake, will not take that for which I have no 
use—you are too proud. You would not be 
too proud to let a nurse or friend give up some 
of her time, if you needed it, to watch by you 
and take care of you. What is the difference 
between their giving time and watchfulness and 


my giving such help as I can? 


RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 63 


Perhaps I have said too much of my wish to 
do this for Rossetti’s sake. But, if you do not 
choose to be helped for his sake, consider also 
that the plain hard fact is that I think you have 
genius; that I don’t think there is much genius 
in the world; and I want to keep what there is, 
in it, heaven having, I suppose, enough for all its 
purposes. Utterly irrespective of Rossetti’s feel- 
ings or my own, I should simply do what I do, if 
I could, as I should try to save a beautiful tree 
from being cut down, or a bit of a Gothic cathe- 
dral whose strength was failing. If you would 
be so good as to consider yourself as a piece of 


wood or Gothic for a few months, I should be 


grateful to you. If you will not, I shall not be. — 

I don’t see what more of objection there is. I 
have tried to fancy myself in your place, and I 
believe, though certainly sorry I could not work, 
I should not torment myself about it. All I | 
have to say is, finally, that I don’t expect you 
to be able to work at all for about four months 
yet; that by that time I believe you may have 
gained strength enough to do a little water- 
colour drawing, and next year to begin the oil; 


and that if I hear of your being any more 


64 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


restive I shall be very seriously saddened and 
0 _hurt—and there an end. 


Believe me affectionately yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


If you would send me a little signed promise— 
Twill be good ”—by Rossetti, I should be grate- 
ful; you can’t possibly oblige me in any other 
way at present; you would only vex me if you 


sent me the best drawing that ever was seen. 


99. 
JoHn Ruskin to Miss Srppat. 


This letter again is imperfect. 


[ DENMARK HILL. 
? April 1855. | 
Dear Miss Srippat, 


I merely write this line to prevent your 
having any hesitation, or feeling any discomfort, 
in accepting the offer I asked Rossetti to convey 
to you. It is very possible you may feel as if it 
involved a sort of pledge on your part to do a 
certain quantity of work, and that, if you could 
not do as much as you thought you should, you 
might get unhappy. 


\ 
RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 65 


Now, I believe you have imagination enough 
to put yourself in other people’s places (even J 
have imagination enough sometimes to do this), 
and if you will put yourself in my place, and ask 
yourself what you would like any other person 
to do who was in yours, I believe you will 
answer rightly, and save both me and yourself 
much discomfort. For I think you will then 
see that the best way of obliging me will be 
to get well as fast as possible; not drawing one 
stroke more than you like. 

I should like you to go to the country imme- 
diately. ‘The physician whom you consult will 
probably give you some suggestions, but doctors 
nearly always have some favourite watering- 
place. He may, however, recommend south of 
France or Italy. I shall be most happy to 
meet the expense (which will not be great) of 
your journey to any point recommended to you, 
but I strongly would oppose your thinking of 
Italy, which would be so fearfully exciting to 
you that I believe you would be thrown into a 
fever in a week. South of France might perhaps 
be well; but, if you were my own sister, I should 


plead hard for a little cottage in some sheltered 
E 


66 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


Welsh valley. My own belief is that you want 
calm, sweet, but bracing air, rather than hot, 
relaxing air. Of this we can talk after- 
wards. 

Once established with some one to take care 
of you in a cottage—if possible near a cattle 
shed—you must try and make yourself as simple 
a milkmaid as you can, and only draw when you 
can’t help:it. One thing remember, that if ever 
you try to do anything particularly well, to 
please me or any one else, you are sure to fail. 
Nothing is ever done well but what is done easily. 
You must never draw but at an easel so placed 
as that you need not stoop. You ought to have 
a little one to screw to your chair. 

What you do you are to send me, whether you 
think it bad or good, nothing or something, 
except what you like to give Rossetti or to keep 
yourself. As for Rossetti, I will sometimes give 
him some of mine if he begs very hard. 

Work as much as possible in colour. I do 
not care whether they be separate drawings or 
illuminations, but try always to sketch with — 
colour rather than with pencil only—I mean so 


far as is agreeable to you. The slightest blot 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 67 


of blue and green is pleasanter to me than a 
month’s work with chalk or ink. 
Be sure to travel comfortably, and not too far 


at once. Of this, however .. . 


25. 
DantE Rossetti to Mapox Brown. 
13 April 1855. 
Dear Brown, 

Would you have leisure to go some day 
with Guggum to Robertson’s, and superintend 
the purchase of oil colours and all needfuls for 
her, as they would probably be overcharging her 
if she went by herself, and I have a feud with 
the wretches and cannot go near them, but for 
oil colours they are the only eligible demons. . . . 

She is likely very soon to be going into the 
country to sketch for some time—Wales perhaps. 
I have reason to be most thankful to Ruskin 
for his great kindness to her. She and I spent 
Wednesday there, and all the R[uskin|s were 
most delighted with Gugeum. J[ohn] R[uskin] 
said she was a noble, glorious creature, and his 


father said that by her look and manner she 


68 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


might have been born a countess; to all of which 
and much more I replied mentally, Yes, George 
Ath!! His mother, who he tells me has much 
medical knowledge, was closeted with her awhile, 
and says she thinks her illness principally weak- 
ness, but needing the very greatest care. God 
send it may be only this; and at any rate the 
cure will now I hope be possible. You will be 
glad to hear that R[uskin] called on me yester- 
day to propose two plans for her :—one, that he 
should take whatever she did henceforward and 
pay for them one by one: the other, that he 
should settle on her £150 a year forthwith, and 
that then she should send him all she did—he 
to sell them at a higher price (if possible) to 
her advantage, and if not, to keep them himself 
at the above yearly rate. I think myself the 
second plan the best, considering that there may 
be goodish intervals when she cannot work and 
might run short of money: but she, to whom I 
spoke of it yesterday evening, does not seem to 
like so much obligation and inclines to the first 
plan. However, she will be sternly coerced if 
necessary. Meanwhile I love him and her and 


everybody, and feel happier than I have felt for 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 69 


a long while. He has sent her a quantity of 
ivory-dust to be made into jelly, which it seems 
is an excellent thing. Lizzy will take tea, per- 

haps dinner, at my mother’s to-morrow. . . . 

Yours affectionately, 
D. G. R. 
24. 
Joun Ruskin to Danre Rosserrt. 
24 April 1855. 
Dear RossEttt, 

I am so thoroughly unwell with cough 
and feverishness that I fear I shall scarcely be 
able to come to school on Thursday, nor to see 
you on Friday. I will write again if I am. 

Meantime, I should be very grateful if you 
thought it right to take me entirely into your 
confidence, and to tell me whether you have any 
plans or wishes respecting Miss Sfiddal] which 
you are prevented from carrying out by want of 
a certain income, and if so what certain income 
would enable you to carry them out. 

In case I should be run over, or anything else 
happen to me, I have written to my lawyer to- 


day, so that the plan we have arranged at present 


70 - RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


cannot be disturbed by any such accident. It 
may be as well that you should keep this letter 
(if you can keep anything safe in that dis- 
reputable litter of yours), in order to identify 
yourself as the Mr. D. Gabriel Rossetti named 
in my letter. 
Believe me always 
Respectfully and affectionately yours, 


JoHN RuskIn. 


Q5. 
Joun Ruskin to Danre Rosserri. 
[? Aprel 1855.] 
Dear_ RosseErri, 

I daresay you do not quite like to 
answer my somewhat blunt question in my last 
letter; I was somewhat too brief in putting it; 
I was unwell, and could not write at length. My 
motive in asking you was simply that I did not 
know how best to act for you, and what to pro- 
pose about sending Miss S[iddal] to Wales or 
Jersey, or anywhere else that might not in some 
way be disagreeable to you; and also because I 
thought that the whole thing might perhaps be 


much better managed in another way, and your 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 71 


own powers of art more healthily developed, and 
your own life made happier. 

I daresay our letters may now cross; but it 
does not matter, for, whatever may be the con- 
tents of yours, I am sure there will be one 
feeling apparent in it, and that will be a dislike 
of putting yourself under obligation to any one 
in carrying out any main purpose of your life. 

I think it well, therefore, to tell you something 
about myself, and what you really ought to feel 
about me in this matter. 

You constantly hear a great many people 
saying I am very bad, and perhaps you have been 
yourself disposed lately to think me very good. 
I am neither the one nor the other. I am very 
self-indulgent, very proud, very obstinate, and 
very resentful; on the other side, I am _ very 
upright—nearly as just as I suppose it is possible 
for man to be in this world—exceedingly fond 
of making people happy, and devotedly reverent 
to all true mental or moral power. I never be- 
trayed a trust—never wilfully did an unkind 
thing—and never, in little or large matters, 
depreciated another that I might raise myself. 


I believe I once had affections as warm as most 


kt 


12 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


people; but partly from evil chance, and partly 
from foolish misplacing of them, they have got 
tumbled down and broken to pieces. It is a very 
great, in the long-run the greatest, misfortune of 
my life that, on the whole, my relations, cousins 
and so forth, are persons with whom I can have 
no sympathy, and that circumstances have always 
somehow or another kept me out of the way of 


the people of whom I could have made friends. 


| So that I have no friendships, and no loves. 


Now you know the best and worst of me; and 
you may rely upon it it is the truth. If you hear 
people say I am utterly hard and cold, depend 
upon it it is untrue. ‘Though I have no friend- 
ships and no loves, I cannot read the epitaph of 
the Spartans at 'Thermopyle with a steady voice 
to the end; and there is an old glove in one of 
my drawers that has lain there these eighteen 
years, which is worth something to me yet. If, 
on the other hand, you ever feel disposed to 
think me particularly good, you will be just as 
wrong as most people are on the other side. 
My pleasures are in seeing, thinking, reading, and 
making people happy (if I can, consistently with 
my own comfort). And I ¢ake these pleasures. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 73 


And I suppose, if my pleasures were in smoking, 
betting, dicing, and giving pain, I should take 
those pleasures. It seems to me that one man is 
made one way, and one another—the measure 
of effort and self-denial can never be known, 
except by each conscience to itself. Mine is 
small enough. 

But, besides taking pleasure thus where I 
happen to find it, I have a theory of life which 
it seems to me impossible as a rational being to 
be altogether without—namely, that we are all 
sent into the world to be of such use to each 
other as we can, and also that my particular 
use is likely to be in the things that I know 
something about—that is to say, in matters con- 
nected with painting. 

Thus then it stands. It seems to me that, / 
amongst all the painters I know, you on the 
whole have the greatest genius, and you appear 
to me also to be—as far as I can make out—a 
very good sort of person. I see that you are un- 
happy, and that you can’t bring out your genius 
as you should. It seems to me then the proper 
and necessary thing, if I can, to make you more 
happy, and that I should be more really useful 


74 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


in enabling you to paint properly and keep 
your room in order than in any other way. 

If it were necessary for me to deny myself, or 
to make any mighty exertion to do this, of course 
it might to you be a subject of gratitude, or a 
question if you should accept it or not. But, as 
I don’t happen to have any other objects in life, 
and as I have a comfortable room and all I want 
in it (and more), it seems to me just as natural 
I should try to be of use to you as that I should 
offer you a cup of tea if I saw you were thirsty, 


and there was plenty in the teapot, and I had 


) got all I wanted. 


I am not going to make you any offer till you 
tell me, if you are willing to do so, what your 
wishes and circumstances really are. What I 
meant was to ask if an agreement to paint for 
me regularly, up to a certain value, would put 
you more at your ease; but I will not enter into 
more particulars at present, for I hardly know, 
till I have settled some business with my father, 
what my circumstances really are. It provok- 
ingly happens that, although I have three times 
as much as is really necessary to enable me to 


carry out any purposes, I have all this winter 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 75 


been launching out in a very heedless way, 
buying missals and Albert Durers—not expecting 
any call upon me—so that it may be a month 
or two yet before I can send you what I should 
like; but after that all will go on quite smoothly. 
Meantime I hope this letter will put you more 
at your ease, and that you will believe me * 
Always affectionately yours, 
J. Ruskin. 

One thing, by-the-bye, I hope you will not 
permit even for a moment to slide into your 
head. ‘That anything I am doing for workmen, 
or for anybody, is in any wise an endeavour to 
regain position in public opinion. I am what I 
always was; I am doing what I always proposed 
to do, and what I have been hindered by unto- 
ward circumstances from doing hitherto ; and the 
only temptation which is brought upon me by 
calumny is, not to fawn for public favour, but 
to give up trying to do the public any good, and 
enjoy myself misanthropically. i 

I forgot to say also that I really do covet your 
drawings as much as I covet Turner’s; only it is 
useless self-indulgence to buy ‘Turner’s, and useful 


self-indulgence to buy yours. Only I won’t have 


76 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


them after they have been more than nine times 
rubbed entirely out, remember that. 


26. 
JoHn Ruskin to Dante Rossetti. 
Ng 30 April [1855] 

Dear Rosset, 

I shall try to get this letter posted early 
to-morrow, to wish you a happy month of May. 
If you would kindly stay in in the afternoon, my 
assistant, Mr. Laing, will bring you a note, which 
I shall tell him to give into your own hands, with 
our beginnings in it. I am much better, but 
can’t speak yet clearly, nor hardly think, and I 
have had no time yet to think over your letter ; 
but my feeling at the first reading is that it 
would be best for you to marry, for the sake 
of giving Miss Siddal complete protection and 
care, and putting an end to the peculiar sadness, 
and want of you hardly know what, that there is 
in both of you. 

I shall be able to send you before the end of 
the week as much as will secure her comfort, with 
a companion, for a week or two at Jersey. Then, 
if she could make up her mind to take you, 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 77 


and go quietly away together to Vevay for the 
summer ? 
Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


I write this more hastily than I ought, because 
I think you will be anxious to know what I 
think. I will write at length to-morrow, or the 
day after. Don’t bring Munro yet. I want to 
see him, but I can’t see; and to speak to him, 


but I can’t speak. 


27. 
JoHN Ruskin fo Danre Rossetti. 
[May 1855.] 
Dear Rossetrt, 

How you must wonder what I am 
about! I am a little tired and shaky—have 
been going to grass, and filing my teeth for 
a snarl at Academy. I want you to do me 
a troublesomish favour. To come out next 
Saturday, and sit down, and make out for 
me as well as you can what certain colours are 
that Turner uses, and how they have been laid 


on. Come out as early as you can, and lunch. 


78 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


Meantime, the following is the list of my 
colours :—could you kindly write those you find 
useful besides, on another sheet of paper, and 
tell bearer where to get violet carmine? ‘The 
others you name he can get at Winsor & 
Newton’s, as their half cakes fit my box. 

Emerald-green, cobalt, smalt, Prussian blue, 
indigo, pink madder, carmine, Venetian red, light 
red, vermilion, blue black, burnt sienna, madder 
brown, burnt umber, Roman ochre, brown ochre, 
yellow ochre, gamboge, yellow lake, cadmium 
yellow, lemon yellow, chrome yellow, orange 
chrome. 


Yours affectionately, 


J. RuskIn. 


98. 
JoHN Ruskin fo Dante Rosserrt. 


I do not know about “our chapel” and Mr. 
Moore. “How much I like the Witch” must re- 
late to the drawing by Miss Siddal which in a later 
letter is again spoken of as “The Witch.” It is 
there coupled with mention of Sister Helen, and I 
suppose it may have been an illustration to that 
poem. She certainly did make such an illustration. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI a? 


[DENMARK HILL. . 
Dear Rosser, ? May 1855.| 


I am very sorry I could not answer as 
you bid me, but I did not know till to-day how 
my week would be cut out. I am afraid I cannot 
come this week, for Inchbold'! is going to leave 
town and I want to see his things, and I can’t 
pay more than one exploring visit in a week. . 
It is inconceivable how one’s time slides away, 
and I am afraid I must go down to examine 
the choir of our chapel with its newly-painted 
windows some day soon. Mr. Moore wanted 
you very much to come too, but I suppose you 
cannot leave your work in the daytime?—at 
least, for so long. 

I forgot to say to you when I saw you that, 
if you think there is anything in which I can 
be of any use to Miss Siddal, you have only 
to tell me. I mean, she might be able and like, 
as the weather comes finer, to come out here 
sometimes and take a walk in the garden, and 
feel the quiet fresh air, and look at a missal or 
two, and she shall have the run of the house; 


1 A young landscape-painter of Preraphaelite affinities. He 
accomplished something, and at this date more was expected 
from him. 


80 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


and, if you think she would like an Albert Durer 
or a photograph for her own room, merely tell 
me, and I will get them for her. And I want 
to talk to you about her, because you seem to 
me to let her wear herself out with fancies, and 
she really ought to be made to draw in a dull 
way sometimes from dull things. I have written 
to her to tell her how much I like the Witch; 
but I don’t tell her what I think about her 
drawing, until you give me leave. I shall try 
to find you to-morrow about one, but, as I see 
you have scratched out Tuesday, I daresay you 


may be out. Never mind. 
Always yours, 


J. R. 
29. 


JoHN Ruskin to Miss SimpDAt. 


Dear Miss Sippat, [? May 1855.] 
Forgive me for pressing you to do any- 
thing you do not like, but I do so only because 
you do not know my friends and I do. I hold 
it of the very highest importance that you should 
let Dr. Acland see you, because he will take that 
thoughtful and tender care in thinking of your 


case which only a good and very unusually 


RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 81 


sympathetic man is capable of. You shall be quite 
independent. You shall see no one. You shall . 
have your little room all to yourself. Only once 
put your tongue out and let him feel your pulse. 
Mrs. Acland may perhaps trespass on you for a 
quarter of an hour. As for children, when [ tell 
you they never brought them into my way, you 
may be sure they will not into yours. In fact, I 
have explained to Acland all about it, and I am 
so certain it is the best and happiest thing for 
you that I have taken upon me even to tell him 
to get your lodgings for you at £1 a week as you 
desire, until he has ascertained where you should 
go in Devonshire. Please therefore pardon me, 
and get ready to go to Oxford, for every day lost 
is of importance. Could you get one of your 
sisters to go with you on Monday? I have told 
Dr. Acland to write to you when the rooms will 
be ready—I hope on Monday. Please do excuse 
my pressing you in this way, 
And believe me 
Most respectfully yours, 
J. Ruskin. 
If one of your sisters cannot go, Rossetti says 


he will take charge of you to Oxford. 
F 


82 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


30. 
Joun Ruskin to Miss Smppat. 


The opening sentence seems to refer to some 
design of a spectral subject that Miss Siddal was 
making: perhaps The Haunted Tree, a good water- 
colour now in my possession. 


[DENMARK HILL 
? May 1855. ] 


Drar Miss Sippat, 

You are a very good girl to say you 
will break off those disagreeable ghostly connec- 
tions of yours. Ido hope you will be able to go 
to Oxford on Saturday. I have asked Rossetti 
to write and tell Dr. Acland if you will. The 
Doctor will let you see a little sea, if you tell him 
you like it, and you will see rocks too and heather, 
and what not, down in Devonshire. But I know 
it is difficult to be cheerful when one is ill. I 
could sit down to-day and cry very heartily. 
Only keep your mind easy about work, and all 
will I trust be well. 

Truly yours, 


J. Ruskmw: 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 83 


31. 
Joun Ruski to Dante Rossertt. 


[DENMARK HILL. ] 
11 May 1855. 
Dear Rosser, 


The enclosed note, posted, will, I doubt 
not, bring you the £35 by return of post. 
But, unless it is really a question of sheriffs 
officers, I would rather you would make an effort 
to finish the picture and send it here to me, and 
let me remit you the money in a business-like 
way ; for the fact is, I have not the sum by me, 
and cannot ask my father for it a advance with- 
out ruining you in his mercantile opinion, which 
I don’t choose to do; so my only other resource 
is to state the facts, which I have done in the 
enclosed note, to my publisher, who will remit 
you the sum instantly. But I do not quite like 
his knowing that I do anything of this kind with- 
out my father’s knowledge. Do not put yourself 
to inconvenience, but, if you can keep the wolf from 
the door without using the note, I would rather. 

When you send the drawing down, send a note 


with it merely saying: “ Dear R.—I promised 


84 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


you the refusal of this, and I must part with it 
immediately ; let me know as soon as you can if 
you would like to have it.” 

You may be pretty sure I shall “like to have 
it”; but I wish you to put it in this way, as I shall 
state my arrangement with you to my father on 
these terms—that I am to have the drawings I 
like best. Besides, I am sure you would like me 
to have this choice. 

I am very sorry to hear what you tell me from 
Oxford. But I can write no more to-night. 
Forgive my long explanations and the trouble I 
give you, and 

Believe me 
Most affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


32. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosserrt. 


This note is a good deal torn. The concluding 
sentence indicates that it was written in reply to a 
letter from Rossetti, saying that he was then just 
twenty-seven years of age, which occurred on 12th 
May 1855. Another letter of my brother’s, pub- 
lished elsewhere, shows that Ruskin wrote about 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 85 


this time to William Allingham concerning a volume 
of poems by the latter. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
12 May 1855. | 


Dear Rossettt, 

I wrote in great haste and considerable 
puzzlement, merely glancing your letter through 
yesterday. By all means, make use of the note. 
I did not then see how much you wanted the 
money. I write chiefly to tell you that I have 
a quite favourable opinion from Acland of Miss 
Siddal, only saying she must be absolutely idle, 
but he thinks there is no really unarrestable or 
even infixed disease as yet. I am very glad you 
saw and liked him. 

I have written to Allingham. I quite forgot 
to answer about your brother’s wish to show the 
Turners. ‘They shall always be open to him and 
to his friends when the covers are off again; but 
you see what a state the house is in. 

Now, have done talking about efforts (?), and 
get up instead of down. I only wish it were my 


27th birthday. 


Ever yours affectionately, 


86 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 
39. 


Joun Ruskin to Dante Rosserrt. 
Dear Rossertt, [? May 1855.] 
I hope to come and work with you, 
according to your kind wish, sometimes during 
the summer, when our house here will be turned 
inside out by French people. 

I should like to consult with you and hear your 
reasons about o2/-painting. I don’t think that 
this form of study is quite necessary, and it 
will involve much trouble and expense. For one 
thing, I cannot have any oil-painting whatsoever 
in the room in which my class works, otherwise 
I could not leave my books and prints about. 
Please don’t go into this further till I see you. 
The worst of it is I am so shaky that I must put 
off again your promised visit on Wednesday, my 
cough being still violent, and I may perhaps have 
to lay up altogether. ‘There is—as far as I know, 
and I know pretty well—no danger in it, but 
merely that which would become dangerous if I 
were careless with it. 

Always affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 
Best regards to your brother. 


The cheque is all right. You have only to 
present it and be paid in cash. 


ALLINGHAM TO W. ROSSETTI. 87 


34. 
Wriiw1aMm AniuincHam fo Wir11AM Rosserrt. 


“The book”’ mentioned at the beginning of these 
extracts is Allingham’s Day and Night Songs. One 
of the illustrations was that of Dante Rossetti to 
The Maids of Elfin Mere. He thought it very badly 

_.cut on the wood: I side with Allingham in holding 
that this was an extreme opinion. The new building 
in Trinity College, Dublin, was the work, I believe, 
of Benjamin Woodward. My old review of Alling- 
ham’s Poems had been published in The Critic, which 
again accepted from me a notice of the fresh volume. 


New Ross. 
28 May 1855. 
Dear Witiram Rossertt, 


. . . The book is very soon to appear. 
What think you of the woodcuts, if you have 
seen them? [I am on the whole delighted with 
‘them, and I unaffectedly think a great deal of 
Gabriel’s, and see no evidence, at all events none 
of the prima facie sort, that could in the least 
justify the hanging of the engraver, a step which 
the painter seems to think desirable. 
Yesterday in Dublin I saw, but hastily, the 
part-finished building in Trinity College, which 


88 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


is after Ruskin’s heart. Style, early Venetian 
(I suppose), with numberless capitals delicately 
carved over with holly-leaves, shamrocks, various 
flowers, birds, and so on. ‘There are also circular 
frames here and there in the wall, at present 
empty, to be filled no doubt with eyes of 
coloured stone. Ruskin has written to the archi- 
tect, a young man, expressing his high approval 
of the plans, so by-and-by all you cognoscenti 


will be rushing over to examine the Stones of 


Dublin. 
Always yours truly, 


W. ALLINGHAM. 


I take another bit of paper to ask this ques- 
tion, which I hope is not an impudent one. You 
were the Reviewer par excellence of my volume 
of 1850. Could you possibly be persuaded to 
review that of 1855 in The Critic? If so, I be- 


lieve I can easily get them to send it you. 


35. 
Joun Ruski to Miss Stppar, Oxford. 


Ruskin was wont to bestow the fancy name Ida 
upon Miss Siddal—taking the name, I suppose, from 
Tennyson's Princess. 


RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 89 


[DENMARK HILL 
May 1855.] 
My Dear Iba, 

I shall be anxious to see Dr. Acland’s 
answer, or at least to hear the substance of it. 
I should think there was no necessity for your 
going south for two months yet. My principal 
theory about you is that you want to be kept 
quiet and idle, in good and pure—not over warm— 
air. ‘The difficulty is to keep you quiet, and yet 
to give you means of passing the time with some 
degree of pleasure to yourself. You inventive 
people pay very dearly for your powers—there 
is no knowing how to manage you. One thing 
is very certain, that Rossetti will never be happy 
or truly powerful till he gets over that habit 
of his of doing nothing but what “interests 
him,”—and you also must try and read the books 
I am going to send you, which you know are to 
be chosen from among the most wninteresting 
I can find. I will write more when I send 
them. 


Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


90 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


36. 
JoHn Rusxrm to Danre Rosserrt. 
[? July 1855. ] 
Dear Rosser, 

I am truly sorry to hear of your illness 
and all your vexations. Nothing would give me 
more pleasure than to take a little holiday with 
you, and ramble about sketching and_ talking. 
You know I do not say this—or anything else— 
without meaning it. But this pleasure I must 
at present deny myself. I am deep in difficult 
chapters of Modern Painters. I cannot be dis- 
turbed even by my best friends or greatest 
pleasures. When I have to work out a chapter 
on a difficult subject, it is precisely the same 
to me as a mathematical calculation—to break 
into it is to throw it all down back to the 
beginning. I do as much in dreamy and solitary 
walks through lanes as I do at home. I could 
not have a companion. 

I want you neat year to take a little run to 
Switzerland. [I will either go with you or meet 
you, if our times should not suit for starting. 


And then we will do some Alpine roses and 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 91 


other things which the world has no notion of. 
Will you come? Meantime, as soon as you 
get this, pack up your drawing, finished or not, 
in the following manner :— 

1. Sheet of smoothest possible drawing-paper 
laid over the face, and folded sharply at the 
edges over to the back, to keep drawing from 
possibility of friction. 

2. 'Two sheets of pasteboard, same size as 
drawing, one on face, the other behind. 

3. Sheet of not too coarse brown paper, entirely 
and firmly enclosing drawing and pasteboards. 

4. Wooden board, a quarter of an inch thick, 
exact size of drawing, to be applied to the parcel— 
drawing to have its face to board. 

5. Thickest possible brown paper firmly en- 
closing board, parcel, and all, lightly corded, 


sealed, and addressed to me, 


Calverley Hotel, 
Tunbridge Wells. 
Paird, per fast train. 


Take it to London Bridge station yourself, 
and be sure to say it is to go by fast train. 


And there is no fear. 


92 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


I have told my assistant to bring you this 
morning four pounds which he happens to have 
of mine (they may be of some little use, as you 
have been longer than you expected in finishing 
this), and will send you cheque the moment draw- 
ing arrives. 

Acland continues to give a hopeful opinion of 


Miss Siddal. 
Ever in haste most affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


The £4 will be in part advance for the 
Passover—I shall send you fifteen. I wish you 


could take £4 worth of fresh air and rest. 


aie 
JoHN Ruskin fo Dante Rosserrt. 


I presume this letter was written towards July 
1855, during the course of the Academy Exhibition 
containing Leighton’s picture of Cimabue. “The 
Elephants’” may have been in the Zoological 
Gardens. “The Ladies in Purgatory’ must mean 
the water-colour of Leah and Rachel, from Dante’s 
Purgatorio ; and I think “the Buttercups”’ refers to 
the same water-colour. By “your sister,’ Ruskin 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 93 


meant Maria. Ido not think Christina was ever in 
his house. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
2 July 1855.) 

Dear Rosserrt, 

The enclosed note puts me ina fix. It 
is dated 'Tuesday, but I did not get it till late last 
night. I had given Mr. Browning leave to bring 
Leighton “ any day next week,” but I understood 
Leighton was going away before F riday. I cannot 
put them off now, and the question is— 

Can Ida and you come on Saturday or Monday 
instead ? 

If Saturday is fine, seize it; I will send for you 
early, we will have pleasant forenoon here. I 
will leave you for a couple of hours for my men, 
and come back to you to tea. If Saturday is 
wet, then Monday. But, if neither Saturday nor 
Monday will do, come to-morrow, and never mind 
Leighton—though you will find them rather too 
noisy, I am afraid, for Ida. 

I send in this for answer, that I may make sure 
of you one of the days. 

How did the elephants behave ? 

How is Ida after her dissipation ? 


94 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


How are the ladies in Purgatory ? 
And how are the Buttercups ? 


Always yours affectionately, 
J. Ruskin. 


The carriage will be at your door at half-past 
twelve on whichever day you choose ; so mind you 
get up in time. Leighton and Browning come to 
lunch at two. 

Just received your note. I shall be of course 
delighted to see your sister. 

Please bring out my pencil Passover. You 


don’t want it while you are at work on the others. 


38. 
Joun Ruskin to Dante Rossertt. 


[? Semmer 1855. ] 
Dear Rosserrt, 
In your growling letter you are Grief, 
and I am Patience on the monument. 
Nothing but Patience in propria persona could 
stand it. If the drawing is sent on Monday, my 
address is Ship Hotel, Dover. If Tuesday, ditto. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 95 


If the week after next, Denmark Hill. If next 


year, I don’t exactly know where. 


Ever affectionately yours, 


39. 
Dante Rossetti fo Mapox Brown. 
By “ Maggie”’ our Sister Maria is meant. 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
[? 20 July 1855. ] 
Dear Brown, 


. . . L have been spending a few days at 
Clevedon a fortnight ago, and enjoying myself 
immensely. Lizzy, whom I went to see there, 
returned with me to London, and is rather better, 
certainly. She will leave town again immediately ; 
and, before the cold comes on again, is to go and 
settle for the winter in the south of France, pro- 
bably. She and I and Maggie are going to dine 
at Ruskin’s to-day. 

Your affectionate 


DD. Gar kt: 


96 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


40. 


Joun Ruskin fo Dante Rosserrt. 


? 


The drawing termed “end of Blackfriars Bridge’ 
must have been a preparatory drawing for the pic- 


ture Pound. 
[DENMARK HILL. 


? 1855.] 
Dear Rossertt, 


I expect Kingsley, the Alton Locke, to 
come out here on Monday in order to-be con- 
verted to Preraphaelitism. I have borrowed 
one of Inchbold’s pictures, but I can’t show 
him anything with feeling in it. Could you 
lend me that end of Blackfriars Bridge—the 
black drawing, I mean—till Tuesday; and, if 
you have any other ideas by you that you could 
spare for me to talk over with him, it would 
be, I think, a thoroughly proper thing to send 
them for him to see—I mean by “proper” it 
would be wrong not. For he ought to under- 
stand what sort of work you and all of us are 
about. I can show him Miss Siddal’s, but he may 
think them morbid. Please don’t be ridiculous 
and say you've nothing fit to be seen. I will 
bring what you send back with me on Tuesday, 






John Aen. 





DE 7K SCL. 


ey 
Found 


CA of G/PA, 
Ay Permsston Of. LA ollyer 





RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI OG 


and have sent a folio in case you have not one at 
hand. 

My best regards to your brother. I have a 
letter from America, saying he was just going to 
be written to. I suppose he has heard by this 


time. 
Ever most truly yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


41. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosserrt. 


Mr. Benjamin Woodward was the architect of the 
Oxford University Museum, a building with which 
Mr. Ruskin was much connected. It was, I believe, 
in July 1855 that Mr. Woodward asked Rossetti to 
undertake some designing work for the decorations 
of the Museum, and the present letter seems to 
show that Miss Siddal was joined in the invitation ; 
neither of them, however, assented. The view which 
Ruskin here expresses about Beatrice is one that has 
obtained no little currency of late years, viz., that 
there really was a Beatrice whom Dante loved, but 
that she was not the same person as Beatrice Porti- 
nari, who eventually married Simon de’ Bardi. The 
translation mentioned in the P.S. seems to be Ros- 


setti’s version of Dante’s Vita Nuova. 
G 


/ 


98 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


[DENMARK HILL. 
? Summer 1855. | 
Dear Rosset, 


I think you and your pupil have judged 
very wisely in this matter, and I will so arrange 
it with Woodward, and let you know his ideas as 
soon as may be. I am delighted with the sketch. 
Many thanks for explanation about Dante and 
Beatrice. Is it not very curious that there should 
be no mention of her marriage in the Vita? Do 
you know, I cannot help suspecting the antiquaries 
are wrong in her identification, and that she 
never was married. I understand every feeling 
expressed in the Vita Nuova but this calmness of 
silence on the supposition of her marriage, nor do 
I quite understand his continued worship being 
so absolute—the image of her being in no wise 
dethroned by her marriage, but put in heaven as 
high as ever. What do you feel about this ? 


Always yours, 
J. Ruskin. 
I like the translation exceedingly. I come on 


Tuesday if fine. 


Best regards to your brother. 


SWAG) Up YF? 
yi gs IUD IGL,” MYND /O 








ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 99 


42. 
Dante Rossertt to Mapox Brown, Finchley. 


Brown’s picture here mentioned must be The Lasi 
of England. By “the Great Prohibited” Ruskin is 
meant. Before the final words, “I don’t encourage 
her,” there is a dark ink-smudge, illegible. 


[CHATHAM PLACE. 
13 September 1855. | 


Dear Brown, 

I'm delighted to hear you’ve done your 
picture at last. . . . Thursday is the evening on 
which Mrs. Kincaid is to meet Lizzy here, to 
settle matters for their departure. If I can pos- 
sibly get away to you rather late, I shall... . 

Except the Great Prohibited, I scarcely see 
any one who will not visit your picture without 
RNAI 22° « 

Poor Liz is not so well, I fear, as might be 
wished, and I don’t like this cold setting in just 
as she is ready to go. 

I improved that drawing with the buttercups 
most immensely, and the G. P. aforesaid gave 
me £30 for it. Pm well on since then with 


100 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


another (Launcelot and Guinever) also destined 


for the Initials. . . 
Your affectionate 


D. G. R. 
. . . I don’t know about bringing Christina, 
as . . . I don’t encourage her. 
43, 


Dante Rosserri to Mapox Brown, Finchley. 

[ September 1855. ] 

Dear Bruno, 

I'm going to do a bit of cheek, with an 
obvious view. Please cast your gimlet eye over 
the following items. 

1. Lowe Guggum £20. 

2. That drawing of Launcelot is all but finished. 

3. When done, I shall have to give £12. 10s. 
of the proceeds to landlord. 

4. Tam about to do immediately another small 
drawing for Ruskin, the proceeds of which will be 
rigorously appropriated to Guggum. It cannot 
take very long, being only a single figure with 
background, and will bring, I have no doubt, 
£15 at least. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 101 


5. It is very desirable I should let Gug have 
£10 before she leaves London, as it will set 
her dear mind more at ease as to her finances, 
and will save dangerous transmission. 

6. Can you, under these circumstances, very 
greatly oblige me with the loan of £10 (or £15, 
if at all practicable)? I shall without doubt be 
able to pay you in a few weeks, and you might 
quite depend on my doing so, as the tin destined 
for Gug would then go to you. Pray, if you 
can’t do this conveniently, burn the present scrawl] 


and forget all about it... . 
Your affectionate 


D. G. R. 


4A, 


Danvre Rosserrt to Mapox Brown. 


The handwriting on the first page of this letter 
shows through to the second page, and, after getting 
to the words “sheer extortions,” Rossetti had to go 
on at once to the third page, with a sequel which 
the letter expounds. He finished off upon the “ blue 
post.” “ Lizzy’s Pippa Passes” was a pen-and-ink 
drawing—one of her completest—from that scene 
in Browning’s drama where Pippa, in her ramble, 
sees the group of women of loose life. This drawing 


102. ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


was reproduced in 1897 as an illustration to the 
Letters of Rossetti to A llingham. 


[| CHATHAM PLACE. 
September 1855. | 

Drar Brown, 

Many sincere thanks for a real relief to 
my mind in the shape of that tin. I had no idea 
you were so monumental a character as to have 
a banker—a dangerous discovery, Brown! I am 
glad to find the price of your picture was not 
quite an unfair one; and do not feel altogether 
sure, nor shall till I get them myself, that the 
very high prices are not sheer extortions—like 
the price of this infamous note-paper, 6d. a quire. 
Pll take it out of the wretches this very day. 

(The writing the above sentence so fired my 
imagination that I was wafted to the beasts in- 
stantly on a whirlwind of rage, and have reduced 
them to reason and blue post.) . . . 

Lizzy goes on Sunday morning at 7. Mrs. Kin- 
caid will sleep here overnight, so they'll get off, I 
hope, pretty comfortably. She'll start now with 
nearly £40 (thanks to you), and will have another 
£40 on Ist of November, so I hope she'll be all 
right. She certainly would do well enough, no 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 103 


doubt, if it were not for travelling expenses till 
she gets to the south, which she must try and 
do before the cold quite sets in. Last evening 
I spent with her and one of her sisters at her 
native crib, which I was glad to find comfortable. 
On Sunday I called on the Brownings, as I want 
to be able to give Lizzy an introduction to them 
if she goes to Florence. What do you think? 
Browning quoted to me some of that ere blessed 
Damozel. He’s coming to see me, and I have 


borrowed Lizzy’s Pippa Passes to show him. 
Your affectionate 


D. G. R. 


With kindest remembrances to Emma and kids. 


45. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosskrrt. 


[DENMARK HILL. 


1855—? October.) 
Dear Rosser, 


If I were to find funds, could you be 
ready on Wednesday morning to take a run into 
Wales, and make me a sketch of some rocks in 


the bed of a stream, with trees above, mountain 


104 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


ashes, and so on, scarlet in autumn tints? If you 
are later than Wednesday, you will be too late; 
but if you can go on Wednesday, let me know 
by return of post, or by bearer. I will send 
funds. I want you to go to Pont-y-Monach, 
near Aberystwith, and choose a subject there- 
abouts. I shall be very much obliged to you if 


you will do this for me. 
Most truly yours, 


J. Ruskin. 
46. 


JoHN Ruskin fo DANTE RosskrvTt. 


Dear RosseEru1, 

I never should think of your sitting out 
to paint from Nature. Merely look at the place; 
make memoranda fast, work at home at the inn, 
and walk among the hills. Take the Passover 
with you, and finish it there—you would do it 
better and quicker—and leave the Dante with 
me till you come back. If you can do this, I 
think your health will be bettered, and I shall be 
bettered by having the drawing; but if you would 
not like to do it, do not do it for fear of hurting 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 105 


me, as I don’t set my heart on this. Do it, if 
you can pleasantly to yourself—not otherwise. 
I think you would win time and health by it. 


Yours always, 


J. R. 


Living will be cheap at hotel, Pont-y-Monach, 
at present. If you can do it, be ready, at any 
rate, by Thursday—a bit of paper fastened on a 
board is all you can possibly want. Send me 
word to-morrow if you go, and I will send funds 


for Thursday. 


AT. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosskrrt. 


[1855—? October.) 
Dear RosseEttt, 

You are a very odd creature, that’s a ~} 
fact. I said I would find funds for you to go 
into Wales to draw something I wanted. I 
never said I would for you to go to Paris, to 
disturb yourself and other people, and I won’t. |__| 

To-morrow D.V.I will bring you Ida’s money, 


about half-past two to four ; please therefore be in; 


106 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


and meantime you can ask at some of the money- 
changers’ in Leicester Square what is the best 
form to send money in. I always do it through 
bankers—and I can’t do this so, for I don’t 
choose to be heard of as sending to Paris in 
the matter, and I won’t write to Browning about 
it—for my entire approval of the journey to 
Paris was because I thought she was to make 
friends of the Brownings directly. What the 
had she to do in Paris but for that ? 

If you like to write to Browning and to 
manage it, you can—but I won't. I am ill-tem- 
pered to-day— you are such absurd creatures 
both of you.. I don’t say you do wrong, be- 


cause you don’t seem to know what @s wrong, 





but just to do whatever you like as far as pos- 
sible—as puppies and tomtits do. However, as 
it is so, I must think for you—and first, I can’t 
have you going to Paris, nor going near Ida, 
till you have finished those drawings, and Miss 
_Heaton’s too. You can’t do anything now but 
indoors, and the less you excite Ida the better. 
Positively if you go to Paris I will. But you 
won't go, I am sure, when you know I seri- 


ously don’t think it right. I will advance you 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 107 


what you want on this drawing, but only on 


condition it goes straight on. 
Most truly yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


You can get French notes for small sums at 
the money-changers’, and send one at a time to 
be sure they go safe—it is the best way—and tell 
Ida she must go south directly. Paris will kill 


her, or ruin her like Sir J. Paul’s Bank. 


4S. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rossekrtt. 


“The Monk Illuminating ”’ is, I think, the water- 
colour which bears the name of Fra Pace. 


[DENMARK HILL. 


? October 1855. | 
Dear Rossetti, 


I have been mighty poorly. Nothing 
serious—but bed, feverish nights, toast and water, 
and physic. Coming to scratch again gradually. 
Please oblige me in two matters or you will 
make me ill again. ‘Take all the pure green out 
of the flesh in the Nativity I send, and try to 


108 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


get it a little less, like worsted-work by Wed- 
_ nesday, when I will send for it. I want the 
Archdeacon of Salop, who is coming for some 
practical talk over religious art for the multi- 
tude, to see it; and with it I want the Passover 
in such state as it may be in, and the sketch 
of Passover. These two last I wish you could 
let me have either by bearer to-day or to- 
morrow, as I want to be sure of them; the other 
I will send for early on Wednesday morning. 

I send half of Ida’s money, and the other half 
on Wednesday. I daresay you want some your- 
self, poor fellow, but I can’t help you just now 
for a little bit. I have much on my hands. If 
you would but do the things I want it would 
be much easier: that Matilda I commissioned 
ages ago I could buy, because I have a reason 
to give, but the Monk illuminating I can’t. But 
I hope I shall be of use to you if you let me 
have those things. 

Nice letter from Ida at last. 


Ever affectionately yours, 


J. R. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 109 


49, 
JoHN Ruskin fo Dante Rossetrt. 


The reference to Ida and Rossetti’s “ fine feeling ” 
suggests that Miss Siddal, seconded by my brother, 
had made some move towards relieving Ruskin from 
the payment of his allowance to her, now that her 
ill-health and absence from England prevented her 
giving any equivalent for it. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
? October 1855. | 
Dear R., 


I have had a sharp relapse, though I 
am downstairs at last, and was too late up, after 
a feverish night, to send for drawing as I in- 
tended ; and the Passover does me so much good 
that—especially as the Archdeacon hasn’t come 
yet—I am going to keep it till I am _ better, 
and so you needn’t send for it nor come, for I 
am just able to hold pen, and that’s all, and I 
won't hear reason. You can make your study 
from model separate. I send a tracing of figure 
and the Monk back : very ingenious and won- 
derful, but not my sort of drawing. 


never mind— 





You and Ida are a couple of: 


but you know it’s all your own pride—not a bit of 


110 MISS SIDDAL TO ROSSETTI 


fine feeling, so don’t think it. If you wanted to 
oblige me, you would keep your room in order 
and go to bed at night. All your fine speeches 
go for nothing till you do that. 

Archdeacon just come. J.R. 


50. 
Miss Sippat fo Dante Rossetti. 


Except some verses, scarcely a scrap of Miss 
Siddal’s writing is extant in my hands. The fol- 
lowing rather amusing account of passport experi- 
ences at Nice (which was then Piedmontese, not 
French) formed part of a letter addressed to Dante 
Rossetti; the remainder of the letter has disap- 
peared. “ Alice Gray” was a good-looking woman 
of swindling proclivities, who had for years victimized 
people in various parts of the United Kingdom, as 
notified in newspapers. She was more particularly 
addicted to bringing forward false charges of robbery 
committed to her detriment. 

[ NICE. 
Christmas-time 1855. | 


On your leaving the boat, your passport is 
taken from you to the Police Station, and there 
taken charge of till you leave Nice. If a letter 


MISS SIDDAL TO ROSSETTI 111 


is sent to you containing money, the letter is 
detained at the Post Office, and another written to 
you by the postmaster ordering you to present 
yourself and passport for his inspection. You 
have then to go to the Police Station and beg the 
loan of your passport for half-an-hour, and are 
again looked upon as a felon of the first order 
before passport is returned to you. Looking very 
much like a transport, you make your way to the 
Post Office, and there present yourself before a 
erating, which makes the man behind it look like 
an overdone mutton-chop sticking to a gridiron. 
On asking for a letter containing money, Mutton- 
chop sees at once that you are a murderer, and 
makes up its mind not to let you off alive; and, 
treating you as Cain and Alice Gray in one, 
demands your passport. After glaring at this 
and your face (which has by this time become 
scarlet, and is taken at once as a token of guilt), 
a book is pushed through the bars of gridiron, and 
you are expected to sign your death-warrant by 
writing something which does not answer to the 
writing on the passport. Meanwhile Mutton- 
chop has been looking as much like doom as 


overdone mutton can look, and fizzing in French, 


“a 
w Gs 


112 MISS SIDDAL TO ROSSETTI 


not one word of which is understood by Alice 
Gray. But now comes the reward of merit. 
Mutton sees at once that no two people living 
and at large could write so badly as the writing 
on the passport and that in the book; so takes me 
for Alice, but gives me the money, and wonders 
whether I shall be let off from hard labour the 
next time I am taken, on account of my thinness. 
When you enter Police Station to return the 
passport, you are glared at through wooden bars 
with marked surprise at not returning in company 
of two cocked-hats, and your fainting look is put 
down to your having been found out in something. 
They are forced, however, to content themselves 
by expecting to have a job in a day or so. This 
is really what one has to put up with, and it is 
not at all comic when one is ill. I will write 
again when boil is better, or tell you about 
lodgings if we are able to get any. 

There was an English dinner here on Christ- 
mas Day, ending with plum-pudding, which 
was really very good indeed, and an honour to 
the country. I dined up in my room, where I 
have dined for the last three weeks on account of 


bores. First class, one can get to the end of the 


ye 
RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 113 


world; but one can never be let alone or left 


at rest. 
But believe me 


Yours most affectionately, 


Lizzy. 
51. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rossertt. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
? January 1856. | 
Dear R., 


I return you Ida—which is excellent, 
and too true, poor thing. Many a boil-over have 
I had by myself at the passport system, the most 
absurd and wicked of all Continental ways of 
squeezing a franc or two out of strangers. If 
they only would take it at once—and be done . 
with it! 

I rejoice in Hunt’s return—hope to see him soon. 
Nativity is much mended ; many thanks. 


Ever yours affectionately, 


J. R. 


I sincerely beg your pardon, my dear fellow, 
for letting you come on Saturday; but I was 
in bed when your note came, and I missed the 


bit at bottom. 
H 


* 


114 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


52. 
JoHN Ruskin fo Dante Rosserrt. 


J am not sure which of Rossetti’s drawings is 
spoken of as “that duet between Ida and you.” 
The “man with boots and lady with golden hair” 
is a Belle Dame sans Merci. All the other observa- 
tions relate to the water-colour Beatrice at a Mar- 
riage Feast denies Dante her Salutation. , 


Dear R., 

I think I like that duet between Ida 
and you better than anything you have done 
for me yet, for it has no faults and is full of 
power,—except and always that man with boots 
and lady with golden hair. I have sent your 
Beatrice to-day to somebody who will like to 
look at it; it will be sent or brought to you on 
Monday. Please leave word about reception of 
it, if you must go out. Please put a dab of 
Chinese white into the hole in the cheek and 
paint it over. People will say that Beatrice has 
been giving the other bridesmaids a “ predes- 
tinate scratched face”; also, a whitefaced brides- 


maid in mist behind is very ugly to look at— 


__ like a skull or a body in corruption. 





hin Allen. 


0 


© 


A! 
Lite LOTL , 


/ 
¥// 
See A 


Q 

NS 
YN S&S 
SP Met 
SQ 
I~ NY 
ae 
aN AS 
ie 
Nt 
SS ON 
XN Qe: 
Wes Se 
Ss ye 
eV ® 
es 
mS 
> ; 
x) ‘ 
yack 
No 
& X 
y > 
SS & 
SS 


‘ Sie ids Wie 





Rosselle i 


@ 


Db 





RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 115 


Also please ask Hunt about young fool who 
wants grapes, and his colour of sleeve. 'Then— 
I will tell you where this drawing is to be sent 
next to be lectured upon, and am always affec- 
tionately yours, 


J. RuskIn. 
53. 
JoHN Ruskin fo Dante RosseErvt. 


{ conjecture that the facts referred to in this letter 
were nearly as follows. As Ruskin had objected (see 
No. 52) to a head in the water-colour of Beatrice ai 
a Marriage Feast, on the ground that it was “white- | 
faced and like a skull,’ Rossetti had taken the head 
entirely out, as a preparation for painting a new one. 
Ruskin called at Rossettis chambers during the 
latter's absence, and was dismayed at finding how 
thoroughly he had been taken at his word. 


[ DENMARK HILL, 


? 1856, | 
Dear RosseErri, 


I suppose that the girl who let me in 
was up to telling you what I had said, and to 
show you what I had done. I had told her to we 
tell you that I was in such a passion that I was 


like to tear everything in the room to pieces at 


116 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


your daubing over the head in that picture; and 
that it was no use to me now till you had painted 
it in again. And I told her to show you that I 
had carried off the Passover instead. However, 
I think it may be well for you to have that pic- 
ture out of your sight a little before you begin 
to work on it again; so please send it me by 
bearer. 


Yours affectionately, 


J. Ruskin. 


How you could think I could look at it with 
any pleasure in that mess, I can’t think. Before, 
the whole thing was explained—there was only 
a white respirator before the mouth. You have 
deprived me of a great pleasure by your absur- 
dity. I never, so long as I live, will trust you 


to do anything again, out of my sight. 


5A. 
JoHN Ruskin to Danre Rosserrt. 


“The Zacharias ’’ must be one of the figures in 
Rossetti’s Passover in the Holy Family. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 117 


[DENMARK HILL. 
? 1856. | 
Dear R., 


You must have thought I had quite 
forgotten you. I have had serious thoughts of 
refusing to give up the picture now returned, 
lest you should spoil the Zacharias; but it would 
be a pity not to finish it. 

Hunt is coming to-morrow; but you mustn’t 
come. I want to talk over all your bad ways 
and scratchings-out with him. Could you and 
your brother (if he likes) take early dinner or 
lunch (I dine) on Saturday at half-past one? 
I want you to show me some things in colour, 
and your brother would or might like looking 
round the pictures meanwhile. 

Always affectionately yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


55. 


Joun Ruskin fo Dante Rossetrrt. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
? 1856. ] 
Dear Rosser, 


Don’t come on Saturday-—any day next 


week will do quite as well for me. 


118 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


I have written to Miss Heaton that Beatrice 
(sulky) and Francesca are to be exhibited on 
19th instant somewhere when there is lecture 
on Dante. 

She knows all about it. I shall send the draw- 
ings to you nicely framed. Yow are to send 
them to the place merely as “sold.” You may 
receive letters about it now soon, and will know 
what to say. 

Hunt saw the drawings last night—admired 
them so much that I couldn’t abuse you as much 
as I intended. 


Always yours afféctionately, 
J. R. 


56. 


JoHuN Ruskin to Miss Sippar, Hotel des 


Princes, Nice. 


DENMARK HILt. 


27 January 1856. 
Dear Ina, 


I was heartily glad to hear from you, 
though I am never angry when people don’t 
write, for I know what a troublesome thing it 


is to do; one can never do it but when one is 


RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL _119 


tolerably well, and then one always wants to be 
doing something else. Iam particularly pleased 
by hearing of your walks “ over the mountains,” as 
the mountains near Nice are real ones, and not 
to be walked over without some strength. I 
trust now you will do well. I am rejoiced also 
at your entirely agreeing with me about the 
vapid colour of that Southern scenery. I hate 
it myself. The whole coast of Genoa, with its 
blue sea, hills, and white houses, looks to me like 
a bunch of blue ribands dipped in mud and then 
splashed all over with lime. I except always 
Mentone, which has fine green and purple, and 
has a unique kind of glen behind it among the 
lemons. But as soon as spring comes you must 
get up among the Alps; it will brace you and 
revive you; and there the colour is insuperable. 
Even very early in the season I think you might 
go to Genoa, thence to Turin and Susa at the 
foot of Mont Cenis; where, if with red cam- 
paniles, green and white torrents, purple-grey 
and russet rocks, deep green pines, white snows, 
and blue valley distance, you can’t make up a 
sauce to your satisfaction, I shan’t pity you. 


April 6th—Certainly, Ida, you and Rossetti 


120 RUSKIN TO MISS SIDDAL 


have infected me with your ways of going on. 
Never did I leave a letter so long in hand before. 
One would think I had had to scratch out every 
word and put it in again, as Rossetti always does 
when he is in any special hurry. 

However, I must dispatch this, and that in all 
haste—for I had no notion how far the year was 
advanced, and the peach-buds took me by sur- 
prise the other day; and the main purport of 
this letter is only to tell you that I think you 
should go up into Switzerland for the summer, 
not come home. It is as different from Nice as 
possible, and that is already saying much for it. 
I hate Nice myself as much as I can hate any 
place within sight of any sort of hill, but I 
didn’t know what you would or wouldn’t like, 
when you went off to Paris instead of Normandy. 
Switzerland is all soft and pure air, clear water, 
mossy rock, and infinite flowers—I suppose you 
like that? If you do, write me word directly, 
and I will without fail in answer send you a letter 
of accurate advice; but it’s no use my tiring myself 
if you are going to come home as fast as you can. 
If you want to leave Nice directly, and yet-[not| 
to go to Switzerland, get (either over Corniche 


ROSSETTI TO MOXON 121 


or by sea) to Genoa, and so to Susa. It is quite 
mild there (Italy, only in the Alps), and must be 
cheap living. Don’t go north from Nice into 
Dauphine ; it is a diabolical country, all pebbles 
and thunder. If you write to me, it is better 
to address your letter enclosed to Rossetti, as I 
may be going down to Oxford and might miss 
it at home. He will have my address. Now do 
be a good girl and try Switzerland, and believe 


me always affectionately yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


5. 
Dante Rosserri to Enwarp Moxon. 


It will be perceived that this letter relates to the 
designs for the Illustrated Tennyson. Madox Brown 
did not furnish any of the designs, though he was 
eventually invited to do so; neither did Rossetti 
produce a “ second Sir Galahad,” nor a drawing for 
the Two Voices. 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
? February 1856. ] 
My Dear Sir, 


I have just heard from Holman Hunt. 
The Lady of Shalott will, in spite of the week’s 
further delay, be ready in a day or two now. I 


have drawn it twice over for the sake of an 


122 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


alteration, so you see I do not spare trouble. 
This has caused the delay, for which I am very 
sorry. ‘The second S%r Galahad I shall do imme- 
diately afterwards. Mr. Linton’s proof of the 
first needs a good deal of lightening, though ex- 
cellent generally. I should like to send him the 
Lady of Shalott, as he says he would be able to 
do it. Nothing would please me better than 
that Mr. Madox Brown should do the Vision of 
Sim, as I hear Hunt proposed to you. His name 
ought by all means to be in the work. Should 
time serve, I should like much to do the TJ'wo 
Voices after the Stir Galahad. 
Yours faithfully, 
D. G. Rosserrt. 


58. 
JoHN Ruskin fo Dante RosseEtrt. 


The “man and his blue wife” is one of Ruskin’s 
not easily identified terms for a water-colour. The 
“yreredos”’ must certainly have been intended for 
Llandaff Cathedral. This note seems to imply that 
Rossetti expected to design a flower-border for the 
reredos, or for the framework connected with his 
picture The Seed of David: I do not at all think 
that he ever did design any such matter. 


ROSSETTI TO W. ROSSETTI = 123 


[DENMARK HILL. 


March 1856? | 
Dear R., 


Your letter reached me to-day between 
one and two. 

I send only the Francesca. 'The Man and his 
Blue Wife I won’t part with; nothing else that I 
have would do you credit with ordinary people. 
The Passover will explain well enough without 
the sketch now, and I mean to keep the sketch 
in case anybody should come to see me whom I 
want to talk about you to. I shall rejoice in, 
and subscribe largely to, rererdos and_flower- 
border, provided proper studies are made first. 

Always yours, 
AV te 

I only underline the last sentence in play, for 
I know you will not go into a work of this kind 


carelessly. 
59. 
Dante Rosserr to WiniiaMm Rosserrti. 


“The Llandaff picture” is, of course the triptych 
for Llandaff Cathedral, The Seed of David. “The 
Member” (of Parliament) was Mr. Henry Austin 
Bruce, who became Lord Aberdare. 


124 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


[CHATHAM PLACE. 
Dear W., 5 March 1856.] 


Ive written to Ruskin to send Miss 
H[eaton] his drawing from Dante, and take this 
when done. . . . Pm quite run dry, and have, 
besides this drawing, which needs constant work, 
to think about the Llandaff picture; so have no 
time to think of other means of getting tin till 
the drawing is done, even were there any... . 
In any case I'd be much obliged if you’d come 
down to-morrow evening and read me some 
Gospel, as I want to look up the subject for 
that altar-piece, and have not absolutely time to 
read for myself. ‘The Member was here yesterday, 
and tells me not to stint myself in price, and all 
goes well; but there is a great hurry about writing 
him some account of probable subject and expense. 

Your 
D. G. 
60. 


Dante Rosserri to Mapox Brown. 


Dear Brown, [6 March 1856.] 
[ve got by me the drawings of Dante 


and Francesca belonging to Ruskin, for some 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 125 
days, probably till the 15th; also have in hand 


a large drawing of Dante’s vision of dead Beatrice, 
as well as Passover and Monk. Perhaps now 
would be the time for White, if there is nothing 
happening just now to turn his human milk to 
curds and whey. . . . Tom Seddon has been 
behaving like a brick in bringing a Welsh M.P. 
down here yesterday about the Llandaff picture ; 
I think that promises to turn up trumps. I 
want you much to see what I’m about, as it 
has got to the precise stage for hints. Would 
there be any chance of you to-morrow or Friday 
morning or evening? Tm always in, but a line 
might be as well 2f evening. Saturday I’m en- 
gaged all day with William to Ruskin’s. 

Did Dalziel call on you about some woodcuts, 


and are you willing ? 
Your 


Map AB Fay 
61. 


JoHn Ruskin to Danret Rosserrt. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
Dear Rossetti, 1856—? March. | 
You shall have thirty pounds to-morrow, 
and J will ask Miss Heaton to lend the twenty-five 


126 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


in a way which will leave it quite in her power to 
refuse comfortably; if she does, I will immediately 
supply the rest. Iam not at all put out; only 
I want Ida to stay in Switzerland. Don’t be 
jealous—I shall not be near her, for I want her 
to be on Italian side of Alps at Susa, and I shall 
be all summer north of them ; but she must stay, 
as she is getting better. We must get her out of 
that hole, Nice, however. 

I shall write what little scolding I have—which 


is for her companion—to you to-morrow. 
Always affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


Please send me by bearer a little crumb of violet 
carmine, and any black that you find vigorous— 
not lamp-black—if you have it. Don’t send the 


carmine if you are using it. 


62. 
JoHN Ruskin fo Dante Rosskrrtt. 


[1856—? March. | 
Dear R., 
Youasked me if you might duplicate that 


sketch for Boyce. Does Boyce pay you for these 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 127 


drawings? If he does, offer him the sketch at 
the price I gave you for it. That will always be 
something in hand. But, if it is only friendship 
in which you paint for him, see if you can sell 
that drawing, or the Francesca, elsewhere ; it will 
always be a help, and I will wazt for other draw- 
ings when you have time to do them. I am 
almost certain Ida, or Ida’s travelling incubus of 
a companion, will have more debts than they say. 
People are always afraid to say all at once. 
Hence it is best to be prepared for the worst. 

I have changed my mind about Italy, but let 
Ida, if she really likes scenery at all, try Savoy, 
near the Grande Chartreuse, as she comes home. 
If she wants to come home, by all means she 
should; but if she would like to see some Alps 


and gentians, I think she should. . . . 
Affectionately yours, 
J. R. 


If any of the dealers would give you a good 
price for even the Dante one (mine), you might 
take it at this pinch. I could not send money 
to-day, it was so wet. Be in, please, to-morrow 


afternoon. 


128 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


63. 
Dante Rosserri to Mapox Brown. 


“ That scheme for Manchester” must, I suppose, 
have had some relation to the great Art Treasures 
Exhibition there in 1857. How this was expected to 
affect my brother I cannot now recollect. 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
? March 1856. ] 
Dear Brown, 


... Tsaw Hunt’s Scapegoat and other 
works the other night. ‘The two for this year 
admirable, but not calculated, I fear, for full 
public impression. He was talking a great deal 
to Woodward and me about his lasting views of an 
exhibition newt year, and says still he will not put 
his name down for A.R.A. Under these circum- 
stances, it struck me I ought to write him my 
sincere impression about his pictures this year, and 
how much better it would be to begin now if at 
all. I suppose, though, he'll stick to the R.A. 
this year; but felt at liberty to speak about it, 
feeling quite convinced of his best course, and not 
having any work to join with his in such a scheme 


—nor shall I even next year probably, if, as seems 


M‘'LENNAN TO W. ROSSETTI 129 


likely hitherto, that scheme for Manchester pro- 
ceeds. 

Ive written to Llandaff—£400 for the three 
pictures, £200 for centre one. I suppose this 
settles the business as impracticable; but I felt, 
with my fidgety habits of work, no smaller amount 
would be safe to undertake it. Will you tell 
Seddon if you see him? Ive written both to 


J. P. Seddon and to Bruce. 
Your 
D. G. R. 


64. 


J. FEF. M‘Lennan to Witu1am Rossetti. 


This is the Mr. M‘Lennan who at a later date 
wrote the celebrated book Primitive Marriage. It 
may have been in 1853 that I first knew him, 
through his fellow Inverness-man, Alexander Munro. 
M‘Lennan had lately introduced to me by letter 
Mr. E. S. Dallas, who, besides writing in The Times, 
became the author of an uncompleted work on 
criticism, The Gay Science. I do not accurately 
remember what was the Professorship for which 
M‘Lennan was now (unsuccessfully) competing, 


3 HUNTLY PLACE, INVERNESS. - 
My Dear Rossert, 13 March 1856, 
... To begin with your last observa- 


tion,—will you believe me when I say I had 
I 


130 M‘SLENNAN TO W. ROSSETTI 


forgotten that I had a “ mucous membrane”? 'The 
change in philosophy and attitude towards the 
world implied in that admission need not be indi- 
cated. Happy the man who eats, sleeps, wakes, 
and works, without noticing it. There is now a 
long time since I had an “ introversion,” and I am 
not now going to have one. Next to not-being, 
I put being-without-reflection. . . . 

I am very glad that Dante is at work ; long may 
he be so, and all success to his labours. I should 
much like to shake his hand again. Hasn’t he 
been prevailed on to exhibit? “Iwill do him 
endless good. It isn’t enough to live for one’s 
self or art alone, neither is oneself nor art the 
better of such devotion. I used to fear for 
Gabriel, with his lying on his back tossing his 
legs in the air and Mon-Dieu-ing. That sort of 
thing I knew wouldn’t last, and I am sure, if one 
loved and respected the Mon-Dieu-er, in a greater 
degree would one respect and admire the worker. 
My love to him, and say I trust soon to shake his 
avd.) bs 

Next, Dallas. Ithink you should look him up. 
He is a jolly good fellow. He tells me he is now 


regularly on the 7%mes staff as a writer of leading 


ROSSETTI TO TUPPER 131 


articles. _Last—the professorship. Iam told on 
good authority that I am to get it. But many a 
slip, &c. Fortunately I am not over-anxious 
about it. . . . Your testimonial came too late for 
me, and so is not printed. I have been so highly 
flattered in those I have printed I do not like to 
give them more publicity than the mere fact of the 
application for the chair requires. . . . Of course 
you are aware that the competition is between 
the political friends of the candidates, and not 
between themselves. ‘The use of testimonials is 


to give colour to the representations of friends. . . 
Most sincerely your friend, 


J. FE. M‘LENNAN. 


P.S. . .. There is no man in London with 
whom I would more gladly correspond than your- 


self, so write. ... 


65. 
Dante Rosserri to Joun Turper. 


In consequence of this invitation, Mr. Tupper 
undertook one of the statues in the Oxford Univer- 
sity Museum—that of Linnezus. 


132 ROSSETTI TO TUPPER 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE.] 
Easter Sunday [1856]. 


My Dear TUPPER, 

Have you heard that a Museum is 
building at Oxford in connection with the Uni- 
versity? ‘The architect, Mr. Woodward, is a 
friend of mine, and a thorough thirteenth- 
century Gothic man. Among the features of 
the interior decoration are a goodish number of 
statues of celebrated men. Woolner is to do 
Bacon—Miunro is doing Galileo. Woodward was 
asking me whether I knew any one else likely 
to undertake one, and I told him I would men- 
tion it, if he liked, to you, which he asked me 
to do at once. I must tell you at the outset 
that this, like other affairs of the kind, does not 
seem chiefly promising on the money side. I 
am not quite certain about the price at which 
Woolner and Munro have consented to do these 
figures (in stone I suppose of some sort, but per- 
haps this would be furnished), but I believe it 
is about £70 each. On the score of connection 
and repute it struck me you might be willing 
to think about a commission not certainly very 


promising on other grounds, 'The Museum is 


ROSSETTI TO TUPPER 133 


attracting the greatest attention among excel- 
lent circles in Oxford I know, as indeed must 
necessarily be the case, and Ruskin takes the 
greatest interest in it. One thing I can assure 
you of is that Woodward is a man of perfect 
honour and good faith, with whom one would 
be quite safe; but you know in these cases the 
funds are always limited, and indeed, except for » 
the bare walls, I believe all interior decoration 
has to be provided by special subscription, various 
people having come forward with these sums of 
£70 for the statues. Munro has done his Galileo 
very rapidly. Woolner sees no prospect of getting 
through his Bacon in anything like the same 
time, but does not like to throw over the chance 
of collateral benefit. I expect myself to have to 
do in some way with the decorations as the build- 
ing goes on. The sculptor of one statue would 
probably I suppose, if he pleased, have subsequent 
opportunities of doing others, as subscriptions of 
others come in. I think there are to be twenty 
or thirty. If you think you could entertain the 
idea, will you meet Woodward one evening at 
my rooms? He is an extremely nice fellow, whom 


you'd like much—is a great enthusiast, and as 


136 W. L. WINDUS TO ROSSETTI 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
i1856—? /zne. | 
Dear Jack, 


I think your poem admirable, far finer 
than either of the former ones, and am sending 
it on to the only man I have formed any ac- 
quaintance with on the Oxford and Cambridge 
Germ—one Jones, of Exeter, Oxon—who no 
~ doubt will forward it to the Editor, and if they 
don’t print it theyre greater fools than I take 


them for. 
Your D. G. R. 


I fear tin is out of question, as I think all 
contributors write for love, or spooniness. I’ve 
promised them a story. 

I wish you'd give me the chance of seeing all 
your poems in a lump. Fix some evening to 


bring them: won’t you? 


68. 
W. L. Wruypus ¢o Dante RosseErtt. 


Mr. Windus was a painter in Liverpool, who - 
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856 a picture 
entitled Burd Helen, which Rossetti admired much, 
and induced Ruskin to write about. 


—— 
ae 





WL Windus. ; ; fohn. Mlen 


ie cen 


: a ID me 
De permsstore Cf Caswall.Smtlh, 


"ef 


7 7. t=" = 
’ ’ ae 4 an 1 
” ~ ‘J an 5 ‘ - in 
< ~ 
’ Rae , 4 
. , * n ns 
“we 
te 
, a 
4 ; 
. 
» pd . 
a) Va 
‘ iT 
j 
. 
' 
» 
‘ 
- 
‘ 
" 
~ 
. 
’ 
Ges 
< 6 
’ 
r 
. 
. 
, 
: ~ 
or 





W. L. WINDUS TO ROSSETTI 137 


198 NETHERFIELD ROAD NoRTH, 
LIVERPOOL. 


30 July 1856. 
Dear Sir, 


Although I am personally unknown to 
you, the knowledge of the kindness you have 
done me leads me to think that you will not 
consider me impertinent in asking a favour from 
you. I have been solicited by Mr. Saunders and 
Mr. Marston to allow an engraving on wood of 
my picture of Burd Helen to be made for a work, 
The National Magazine, which those gentlemen 
are about to publish. As there is an objection to 
sending “the wood” travelling, they request me 
to name some person in London to whom they 
can show the drawing on the wood before it 
goes into the hands of the engraver. Will you 
look at it for me and tell them if anything is 


wrong? ... 
Yours sincerely, 


W. L. Wrnpvs. 


138 W. L. WINDUS TO ROSSETTI 


69. 
W. L. Wrnpus to Dante Rossetv1. 


198 NETHERFIELD ROAD NORTH, 
LIVERPOOL, 
3 August 1856. 


Dear Sir, 

I can only thank you for your great 
kindness, and hope you will not give yourself 
any unnecessary trouble in the matter. It will 
be very easy for them to put the picture in a 
cab and drive to your residence. . . . I should 
be very sorry indeed if your generous notice of 
my picture in your letter to Mr. MacCracken 
should be attended by any unpleasantness to 
yourself. . . . I assure you that you and Mr. 
Ruskin were the two persons in the world whose 
approbation I most ardently wished and scarcely 
dared to hope for, and that I felt the most in- 
expressible delight when the extract from your 
letter was read to me, being at the time in a 


wretched state of despondency. . . . 
Yours sincerely, 


W. L. Wrypws. 


PATMORE TO ROSSETTI 139 


70. 
CoventRY Parmore to Dante RosseErrvt. 


The water-colour which Patmore termed Dante 
and Beatrice must be the Marriage-Feast subject. 
The other is The Passover in the Holy Family. 


BRITISH MUSEUM. 
[? 1856.] 
My Dear Rosservrt, 


After a capital night’s rest and a com- 
fortable breakfast, I contemplated your Dante and 
Beatrice with greater delight and profit than I 
ever received from any other picture without ex- 
ception. For the time, it has put me quite out 
of conceit with my own work, and I must forget 
the severe and heavenly sweetness of that group 
of Bridesmaids before I shall be able to go on 
contentedly in my less exalted strain. ‘The other 
drawing, at its present stage, does not affect me 
nearly so powerfully, though I feel the soft and 
burning glow of colour. The symbolism is too 
remote and unobvious to strike me as effective; 
but I do not pretend to set any value by my own 
opinion on such matters. I read all your copied- 


out translations after you left with pleasure 


140 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


scarcely less than that with which I looked 
upon your picture. I long to be able to read the 
whole of them quietly at home. I can fancy the 
stare of the Atheneum and other critics on open- 
ing this book of translations when you publish 
Abani ae tke 

Yours faithfully, 


CovENTRY PATMORE. 


pls 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rossetti. 


Dear R., [? 1856.] 
To-morrow at about half-past one I 
bring, I hope, translations &c. Patmore is very 
nice; but what the mischief does he mean by 
Symbolism? I call that Passover plain prosy 

Fact. No Symbolism at all. 
Ever yours, 
J. R. 
(C2 


JoHN Ruskin to Dante RosseErrt. 


Dear Rosserrt, CHAMOUNI, 14 August [1856]. 


You would have heard from me before 


now, but I did not know if you were in town, and 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 141 


whether I could safely send a cheque to Ch{atham] 
Place. Luckily, Miss Heaton has just paid us a 
visit here, and I have begged her to take charge 
of a letter to you, which contains Ida’s August 
money, with my love to you both. You will get 
it, I hope, about 3rd or 4th September. 

I am very anxious to hear how you are getting 
on. I suppose it is my own fault that I have 
not; but I thought I had said in my last that 
any letters directed to me at 7 Billiter Street, 
with “to be forwarded” on cover, will reach me 
in due course. If you like to send one now, 
directed Hotel de Zihringen, Fribourg, Swisse, 
it will reach me quickly; but you must not 
dispatch it before the 24th August, nor after 
the 30th, or it may miss me. ‘Tell me all about 
your pictures, and yourself and Ida; I don’t care 
to hear about anything else. Have you got my 
Dante picture and the Mrancesca? I ordered them 
to be sent to you soon after I went away. 

I found soon after I wrote to you, on trying to 
draw a little, that I was really exhausted, and I 
have been so idle ever since that now it is quite 
a trouble to me to take up a pen from the table. 


I do nothing but walk and eat and sleep, and get 


142 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


stupider and lazier every hour. You see I write 
even worse than usual, and I haven’t a single idea 
in my head on any subject. There is the most 
exquisite view of Alps from my window at this 
moment under morning sunshine, but I am so 
stupid that I don’t much care about it. I wanted 
to find out a few simple geological facts when I 
came here, but I am so stupid that I can’t. I had 
promised a friend to draw him a bit of snow and 
a pine or two, and I have just sense enough left 
to see that it is no use trying. I slept from half- 
past nine last night to six this morning, and am 
half-asleep now—nothing but breakfast will in 
the least brighten me. 

Weare all pretty well; my mother much better; 
my father a little oppressed by the heat (for, 
though not what it is in the plains, the summer 
sunshine is glowing enough even here), and I, as 
above described. I daresay I am pretty well, but 
am not clear about it. 

We have been staying at different places in 
Switzerland, whose names are of no consequence 
to you, and doing nothing at them, which it is no 
use telling you about. 

All goes on in Switzerland just as usual; they 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 143 


make large quantities of cheese and cherry-brandy, 
and a great many of them are born idiots. 

20th August (Geneva). 

The above interesting communication having 
been interrupted by breakfast, I kept it three 
days by me in hopes of getting an idea about 
something; but I haven't got one. It is nine 
o'clock, and I am very sleepy. So good-bye. 

Ever affectionately yours, 
J. Ruskin. 


AD: 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosservt. 


Miss Siddal’s drawing, which Ruskin calls The 
Witch, has been referred to in a previous letter of 
his, No. 27. As to Rossetti’s small oil-picture of Si. 
Catharine (which was painted in or about 1857), and 
Ruskin’s reference to “old debts,” it will be under- 
stood that Ruskin from time to time advanced money 
for paintings which were not always forthcoming at | 
the stipulated time, and Ruskin mughi have claimed 
the St. Catharine as an equivalent for some such 
money—but here he waives his claim. 


[DENMARK HILLt, 
Dear Rosser, ? 1856.] 
I always intended to mount in frame 


Ida’s drawings, but only proceeded so far as to 


144 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


cut off the edges of thin mounts which I didn’t 
like, preparatory to full bevelled mounts for 
them, but time has always failed me. 

Sister Helen is glorious, and I keep the witch 


drawing. ‘Therefore, you shan’t have it. 


Yours affectionately, 


J. R. 


Remember, I am to see the oil-picture the 
moment it is done, St. Catharine. I hope to take 
it at once for money, leaving old debts to stand as 


long as you like. 


TA. 
Dante Rosserri to Mapox Brown. 


I understand this note to relate to an article on 
Brown's pictures, written by Rossetti for The Daily 
News. The Rev. Mr. Elliott promoted its insertion. 
“ The large landscape’ must be the English Autumn 
Afternoon. : 

[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
6 September 1856.] 

Dear Brown, 

The article is to be written to-day 
(chiefly about the Liverpool pictures), and will, 


no doubt, be in in a day or two—perhaps on 


J. W. FINLAY TO W. ROSSETTI 145 


Monday. I write you word of this in case of 
any possible steps about the large landscape, 
which ought to be made at once. 
Yours affectionately, 
D. G. RosseErtt. 


15. 
J. W. Fintay to WiiuiAmM Rossettt. 


Mr. Finlay became the editor of a very short-lived 
serial named The Edinburgh Weekly Review, to which 
I contributed two or three articles. The reader will 
probably say that my only motive for quoting from 
this letter is self-conceit. 


EDINBURGH: 52 BROUGHTON STREET. 
25 October 1856. 
Dear Sir, 


. I shall be glad if you will contri- 
bute the different kind of articles you propose, 


not excepting the Gossip. .. . 


Yours sincerely, 


J. W. Fintay. 


Mr. Ruskin, by the way, compliments me highly 


in a letter to a friend of mine, in which [he] 
K 


146 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


mentions you as the most suitable writer on art 
subjects he can think of for the Review, and says 


you are “all but infallible as a critic.” 


76. 
Dante Rosserri to Mapox Brown. 


Mrs. GREEN’S, 
17 ORANGE GROVE, BATH. 
Dear Brown, [10 December 1856.] 


I forget Dalziel’s address. Would you 
send this on; or, if you have a half-hour to spare, 
would you take it to him, and see my St. Cecily 
block, which he is cutting, I find? Perhaps you 
might save it a dig or two. Pray impress on 
him that none of the work is to be left out. 
The note is to ask him to send me the proof here. 

Bath has been a mud-bath ever since I came. 
Will you write me any London news of note, if you 
have any, and time to write it in? Lizzy, you will 
be glad to hear, is rather better than when last in 
London, and not quite so thin. She joins with me 


in kindest remembrances to all at F[ ortess] Terrace. 
Yours affectionately, 


D. G. Rosserrt. 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 147 


a (ae 
W. B. Scorr to Wii11am Rosser. 


NEWCASTLE. 
22 December 1856. 


My Dear W. M. R., 

I send you by Woolner a copy of the 
Leaves of Grass, which pray accept as a Xmas 
box. It is the queerest, the most startling, and 
in some sense the most catholic, of new oracles. 
I hope the author will shut up and write no more. 
If he does try again, most likely he will produce 
some rubbish (ten times worse than the author of 
Festus publishing the Angel-World), proving that 
the one idea had inspired him, and at first sight 
invalidating what he has already done. . . . We 
are reading Aurora Leigh. Mrs. Browning comes 
out in a manly manner, not over-scrupulous. Per- 
haps never before were seen so much riches of 
poetic eloquence in one work. But it is only 
a novel, &@ la Jane Eyre, a little tainted by 
BABI 2 (.'<).- 


Y ours, 


148 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


78. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante RosseEttt. 


John (F.) Lewis was the renowned painter of 
elaborate Oriental and other subjects. At this date 
he must already, I think, have been President of 
the Water-colour Society. “ Hunt” does not here 
mean Holman Hunt, but William Henry Hunt, of 
the same Society. ‘ Morris” must be William Morris. 
I suppose that my brother declined to stand for 
election into the Society; certainly he never was 
elected. 

[DENMARK HILL. 
circa Christmas 1856.] 

Dear RosseErri, 

I enclose a letter from John Lewis, and 
we must now have your final answer. I object, 
myself, to the whole system of candidateship, but, 
as it is established, neither you nor I can at 
present overthrow it. I don’t believe there is 
the least risk of your rejection, because Lewis is 
wholly for you, and the others know that you are 
a friend of mine and that I am going to write a 
“notice” in 1857 as well as 1856. I don’t say 
. that, if they rejected you, I might perhaps feel dis- 
posed to go into further analysis of some of their 





DPD G.Rossetde 3 UWL Cells 


CFE: 
Roe Fé A 2 we’, 





RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI _—-149 


own works than might be altogether pleasant. 
But don’t you think they will suppose so, and 
that your election is therefore rather safe ? 

But suppose the reverse. All that could be 
said was that they rejected—not Rossetti but 
Pre-Raphaelitism. Which people knew pretty 
well before. But it would give me a hold on 
them if they did, which would be useful in after 
attacks on this modern system, so that, whether 
they took you or not, you would be helping for- 
ward the good cause. But all the chances are 
that you get in, and if you do, consider what 
good you may effect by the influence of your 
work and votes in that society, allied with Lewis 
and Hunt! 

So pray do this. Write to Lewis instantly, 
saying you accept. I will write to Oxford for 
Dante. Morris will, I am sure, lend his, and 
I will lend my Beatrice, and there we are, all 
right. 

Yours affectionately, 


hog te 


I will send Ida’s drawings by first hand coming 


into town. Send me a line saying what you do. 


150 MISS SIDDAL’S POETRY 


79. 
Miss Srppau’s Porrry. 


I present here seven specimens of Miss Siddal’s 
verse ; an eighth was given in my Memoir of Dante 
Rossettt. She used to take a great deal of pains, and 
I fancy was seldom or never satisfied with her pro- 
ductions. One can find a dozen scribblings of the 
same stanza here and there, modified and corrected. 
As to the date of these poems I am not certain, but 
should suppose that her most productive years were 
from 1855 to 1857. 


I 
TRUE LOVE 


Farewell, Earl Richard, 
Tender and brave; 
Kneeling I kiss 


The dust from thy grave. 


Pray for me, Richard, 
Lying alone, 

With hands pleading earnestly, 
All in white stone. 


MISS SIDDAL’S POETRY 151 


Soon must I leave thee 
This sweet summer tide ; 
That other is waiting 
To claim his pale bride. 


Soon [ll return to thee, 
Hopeful and brave, 
When the dead leaves 


Blow over thy grave. 


Then shall they find me 
Close at thy head, 

Watching or fainting, 
Sleeping or dead. 


II 
DEAD LOVE 


Oh never weep for love that’s dead, 
Since love is seldom true, 

But changes his fashion from blue to red, 
From brightest red to blue, 

And love was born to an early death 


And is so seldom true, 


152 MISS SIDDAL’S POETRY 


Then harbour no smile on your loving face 
To win the deepest sigh ; 

The fairest words on truest lips 
Pass off and surely die ; 

And you will stand alone, my dear, 
When wintry winds draw nigh. 


Sweet, never weep for what cannot be, 
For this God has not given: 

If the merest dream of love were true, 
Then, sweet, we should be in heaven ; 

And this is only earth, my dear, 


Where true love is not given. 


ITI 
SHEPHERD TURNED SAILOR 


Now Christ thee save, thou bonny Shepherd, 
Sailing on the sea ; 

Ten thousand souls are sailing there 
But I belong to thee. 

If thou art lost then all is lost 
And all is dead to me. 


MISS SIDDAL’S POETRY 153 


My love should have a grey head-stone 
And green moss at his feet, 

And clinging grass above his breast 
Whereon his lambs could bleat ; 

And I should know the span of earth 
Where one day I might sleep. 


IV 
GONE 


To touch the glove upon her tender hand, 
To watch the jewel sparkle in her ring, 
Lifted my heart into a sudden song, 
As when the wild birds sing. 


To track her shadow on the sunny grass, 
To break her pathway through the darkened 
wood, 
Filled all my life with trembling and tears 


And silence where I stood. 


I watch the shadows gather round my heart, 
I live to know that she is gone— 

Gone, gone for ever, like the tender dove 
That left the ark alone. 


154 


MISS SIDDAL’S POETRY 


Vv 
SPEECHLESS 


Many a mile o’er land and sea 

Unsummoned my Love returned to me; 

I remember not the words he said, 

But only the trees mourning overhead. 

And he came ready to take and bear 

The cross I had carried for many a year : 

But my words came slowly one by one 

From frozen lips that were still and dumb. 

How sounded my words so still and slow 

To the great strong heart that loved me so? 

Ah I remember, my God, so well, 

How my brain lay dumb in a frozen spell ; 

And I leaned away from my lover’s face 

To watch the dead leaves that were running 
a race. 

I felt the spell that held my breath, 

Bending me down to a living death— 

As if hope lay buried when he had come 


Who knew my sorrows all and some, 


MISS SIDDAL’S POETRY 155 


VI 
THE LUST OF THE EYES 


I care not for my Lady’s soul, 
Though I worship before her smile : 
I care not where be my Lady’s goal 


When her beauty shall lose its wile. 


Low sit I down at my Lady’s feet, 
Gazing through her wild eyes, 

Smiling to think how my love will fleet 
When their starlike beauty dies. 


I care not if my Lady pray 
To our Father which is in Heaven ; 
But for joy my heart’s quick pulses play, 


For to me her love is given. 


Then who shall close my Lady’s eyes, 
And who shall fold her hands? 
Will any hearken if she cries 
Up to the unknown lands ? 


156 MISS SIDDAL’S POETRY 


Vil 
WORN OUT 


Thy strong arms are around me, love, 
My head is on thy breast : 
Though words of comfort come from thee, 


My soul is not at rest: 


For I am but a startled thing, 
Nor can I ever be 
Aught save a bird whose broken wing 


Must fly away from thee. 


I cannot give to thee the love 
I gave so long ago— 
The love that turned and struck me down 


Amid the blinding snow. 


I can but give a sinking heart 
And weary eyes of pain, 

A faded mouth that cannot smile 
And may not laugh again. 


Yet keep thine arms around me, love, 
Until I drop to sleep: 

Then leave me—saying no good-bye, 
Lest I might fall and weep. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 157 


80. 
Joun Ruskin to Dante Rossktrt. 


Being quite uncertain as to the date of this note, 
I am also unable to say what is the water-colour of 


which Ruskin is speaking. 
[DENMARK HILL. 


? 1857. 
Dear Rosser, 


I have the drawing safe, and enclose 
cheque, which you have nothing to do but to 
present at Union Bank (close to Royal Ex- 
change). Please send me word you have received 
the cheque, as anybody might present it if it 
were lost. 

I see that you are unwell, and must rest. You 
shall make me a sketch instead of this some day ; 
and just remember, as a general principle, never 
put raw green into light flesh. No great colour- | 
ists ever did, or ever wisely will. This drawing 
by candlelight is all over black spots in the high 
lights. ‘The thought is very beautiful—the colour | 
and male heads by no means up to your mark. I | 
will write more to-morrow. 

Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


158 RUSKIN TO W. ROSSETTI 


81. 
JoHn Ruskin to Wittt1am Rosset Tt. 


The opening of this letter refers to the meetings 
&c. which were being held with a view to purchasing 
for the National Gallery Thomas Seddon’s picture 
of Jerusalem nith the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Ruskin 
acted as treasurer, and the picture was accepted for 
the Gallery. “Miss Rossetti’? means Maria. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
4 February 1857.] 
My Dear WILtiAM, 


I shall be very happy if I can be of use 
in this matter; but I don’t quite see of what use I 
could be at this first meeting. I think that, if the 
points I spoke of on Monday are those which the 
Committee think it would be well to mark in the 
prospectus, I could set down for you quite as 
much as I said about them at last meeting; but 
I couldn’t do this at a meeting, but in a quiet 
evening at home. If you want me at the next 
meeting, however, make said meeting here, and I 
will make you all as comfortable as I can. At 
half-past seven, you shall have tea and muffins— 


and ink. I can’t come out on Friday night; P’m 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 159 


always tired and apt to catch cold after the 
college night. 

I am very sorry I have seen so little of you 
lately ; it is not my fault. I can’t work hard at 
present, and can’t keep up with my correspon- 
dence and casual demands on time but by staying 
at home like a dormouse. But I have sincere re- 
gard for you, and your brother, and Miss Rossetti 
—yjust as much as ever—and am heartily sorry to 


see so little of you. 
Yours always faithfully, 


J. RusKIN. 
82. 
W. B. Scorr fo Witttam Rossertt. 


Mr. Budden, here mentioned, was an employé in 
the office of Mr. Robert Stephenson, and was a man 
of some literary taste and aptitude. Wallington 
was the Northumbrian seat of Sir Walter and Lady 
Trevelyan; a marble group, by Woolner, had been 
commissioned for the entrance-hall. 


NEWCASTLE. 


14 February 1857. 
My Dear W. M. R., 


. . . It struck me you were the man 
to like the Leaves of Grass. Obliterate utterly 


160 W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 


with the blackest ink half-a-dozen lines and half- 
a-dozen words, ignore the author altogether, and 
read as one does the books that express human 
life like the Bible—books that have aggregated 
rather than been written—and one finds these 
Leaves of Grass grow up in a wonderful manner. 
The book is very like an opening into a quite 
new poetic condition. .. . 

Budden has just been here, and tells me he 
saw you and Woolner, and Woolner’s bust of 
Tennyson, which he thinks very splendid. Some 
time or other it will be finished, and one will 
see it. Woolner seems to think the head of a 
great man should take a long time to do, and 
this according [to] a certain ratio: a few months 
more are no doubt necessary to realize the 
effigy of the “stupendous giant of the modern 
ages,” as he calls the author of Maud, looking 
ferociously at his audience, as much as to say, 
“ Differ with me if you dare, you parcel of mag- 
gots!” He is a very fine fellow, though, in spite 
of his fits, and will no doubt do something very 
good for Wallington. .. . 

Yours, 


W. B. Scorr. 


TUPPER TO W. ROSSETTI 161 


83. 
JoHn Turrer fo Wrti11am Rossertt. 


This translation of the famous lines by the Em- 
peror Hadrian is a good one, It ought to have 
figured in a curious collection of the renderings 
which was privately printed by Mr. David Johnston 
in 1876. I could have got it in, and would not 
have failed to do so had I recollected it at the proper 
time. 

MILTON COTTAGE, SOUTH LAMBETH, S. 


‘(18 February 1857]. 
Dear Rosserri, 


. .. The other night we, 7.e., my cousin 
Earnshaw, George, and myself, were discussing the 
Adrian death-bed verses, and remarking the diffi- 
culty of rendering into English the diminutives 
therein, when I suggested “ Spiritling ” for 


5 


*“‘animula;” so they advised me to try it in that 


fashion. Isend you the audacious attempt :-— 


Flittering flattering Spiritling, 

This body’s wayfarer and guest, 

Of what rooms, now, wilt be in quest ? 
Pallor-dimmed frozen, nakedling ! 


Not, as you used to, will you jest ? 


You'll grin at “ rooms,” but I think “loca” 
L 


162 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


means lodgings, and “ comes” means wayfarer (the 
strict translation of the word too, I believe); the 
statement being: “ Spirit, you have hitherto 
travelled with, and lodged in, the body—now, 
how will you be lodged? Now, out of colour— 
hard as with cold, and naked or so—(query) will 
you be likely to play at the old game?” .. . 


Yours ever, 


J. L. Tupper. 


S4. 
Dante Rosserrt to Mapox Brown. 


I have briefly referred to this matter in my Memoir 
of Dante Rossetti, p. 201. The initial which I give, 
G., is not the correct one. 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE, 
26 february 1857.) 
My Dear Brown, 


Last night a misunderstanding occurred 
between Lizzy and me about what passed, when 
you were there, concerning the scheme of a college. 
She seems under the impression that you came 
there in great surprise at hearing that I had not 


consulted her on the matter, and with the wish to 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 163 


speak to her yourself. Though I should be grate- 
ful to you for anything done in friendship to her, 
I cannot but imagine that, as my friend, you 
would have preferred first asking me what had 
passed between us, before speaking to her ; especi- 
ally as you could have been under no impression 
that I was acting in this without reference to her 
as well as myself ; seeing that on the night when 
Morris, Jones, and I, came to you, and were dis- 
cussing the scheme, I expressly said that I should 
be married by the time it came into operation, 
and require space accordingly in the building. 
When you first spoke on Tuesday evening of 
two married couples as beginning the scheme, I 
thought you meant Lizzy and me for the second ; 
and, on finding that you did not, I refrained from 
saying anything, simply because Lizzy has some- 
times lately shown so much displeasure on my 
mentioning our engagement (which I have hoped 
was attributable to illness) that I could not tell 
how far her mother was aware of it, or how Lizzy 
would take my mentioning it before her. 

I had spoken of the scheme to her some days 
ago, but she seemed to take little interest in it, 


and I did not say much. She now says that she 


164 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


understood only a range of studios, and would 
strongly object to the idea of living where G. was, 
of which objection of hers I had no idea to any 
such extent. I have myself wished to keep him 
and her apart hitherto, as I do not think he has 
acted lately as a friend towards me in her regard, 
but that feeling would have left me when once we 
were married. However, my wishes as to this 
scheme would entirely depend on hers, supposing 
that it would really affect her happiness ; in which 
case I should cease to care for it or think of it. 
As it is, she seemed last night quite embittered 
and estranged from me on this account, whether 
for the moment or permanently I cannot yet 
tell, and it has made me most unhappy ever 
since, more so than anything else could make 
me. I am going there to-day now, and shall 
probably be there in the evening. After to-day 
she talks of going to stay for a week at her 
sister’s. | 


Yours ever sincerely, 


D. G. Rosserrt. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN _) 165 


85. 
Dante Rosserrit fo Mapox Brown. 


[? 28 Lebruary 1857.] 


My Dear Brown, 

Thanks for your friendly letter. I must 
not show it, however, to Lizzy, as her health will 
not bear any excitement. . . . She does not better 
in health, never eating anything to speak of, and 
I am most wretched about her. What to do I 
know not. I have been with her these two days, 
but shall not see her again I believe till Monday. 
. .. I cannot trouble her about it or feel any 
anger at her, only constant pain at her sufferings. 
Kind and patient she has been with me many 
and many times, more than I have deserved ; 
and I trust this trouble is over. It is but too 
natural that her mind should be anxious and 
disturbed. .. . 


Yours affectionately, 


D. G. Rossettt. 


166 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


86. 


Mapox Brown fo Wiiu1am Rossetti. 


13 FoRTESS TERRACE, N.W. 
[28 February 1857.] 
My Dear WItiam, 


As I suppose it would look too pointed 
were I to hold off from going to the meetings at 
Ruskin’s any longer, I will go to that on Monday 
and be with you in conveyance by 6 pv.m., which I 
suppose will be in time, and shall consider myself 
in the light of a martyr to duty thenceforth and 
for ever ; and if he insults me, as I know he cannot 
well avoid from his nature, I shall visit it upon 
you, and abuse you behind your back for the next 
three months, and say subtle spiteful things in 
your presence which you will not be able to notice. 

Meanwhile believe me 
Ever yours sincerely, 


Forp Mapox Brown. 
87. 


JoHN Ruskin fo Dante Rossertt. 


It would appear that, by the time when this 
letter was written, the arrangement for a continuous 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 167 


payment by Ruskin to Miss Siddal had come to an end 
by Miss Siddal’s resolve, and doubtless by Rossetti’s 
concurrence as well. I do not know the details. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
? June 1857.] 

Dear Rosser, 

I don’t know when [ have been more 
vexed at being out of town, as I have been since 
Saturday; as Ida’s mind and yours must have 
been somewhat ill at ease thinking I was vexed, 
or something of that kind. 

I shall rejoice in Ida’s success with her picture, 
as I shall in every opportunity of being useful 
either to you or her. The only feeling I have | 
about the matter is of some shame at having 
allowed the arrangement between us to end as it 


did, and the chief pleasure I could have about it 


> 


now would be her simply accepting it as she would 
have accepted a glass of water when she was 
thirsty, and never thinking of it any more. 

As for Thursday, just do as you and your sister 
and she feel it pleasant or find it convenient. . . . 
I hope to see you and arrange to-morrow, if you 
can be at home about four o’clock. If I don’t see 


you or hear from you I shall expect you to dinner 


168 RUSKIN TO WILLIAM DAVIS 


at two if it be fine. If Ida can’t come, it’s no 


reason why Miss Rossetti shouldn’t. 
Yours affectionately, 


J. Ruskin. 


If it would be more convenient to you to put 
it off a week, or even till full strawberry time, do. 
The garden is duller than I expected just now. I 


shall be at home these three weeks yet. . . . 


88. 
Joun Ruskin to Witi1am Davis, Liverpool. 


This letter remains in my hands, along with a 
stamped envelope addressed by Mr. Ruskin to Mr. 
Davis; the envelope, however, bears no postmark. 
I presume that the addressed letter was confided by 
Mr. Ruskin to my brother; and that he, thinking 
its contents would prove discouraging rather than 
otherwise to Davis, obtained the writer’s authority 
not to send it on. Davis was an Irish landscape 
painter, settled in Liverpool, a modest hard-working 
man, and an artist of uncommon gifts; he was, and 
still is, greatly admired in a circle too strictly limited. 
He had a large family, and always found difficulty in 
“making the two ends meet.”” His death took place 
in 1872. Myr. Davis had sent up to London six 


RUSKIN TO WILLIAM DAVIS _ 169 


pictures for the “ Preraphaelite Exhibition ” (see No. 
89); they must, prior to the opening of the exhibi- 
tion, have been in the hands of my brother, who 
showed them to Ruskin. The one which Ruskin 
terms a “ditch and wheatfield”’ was, I suppose, 
that which stands catalogued as A Study in Summer ; 


another was A Study of Dogs. 


[ DENMARK HILL, 
1857.] 
My Dear Sir, 

I had much pleasure in examining the 
pictures of yours which Mr. Rossetti showed me 
this afternoon: they show an exquisite sense of 
colour, and much tender feeling of the expres- 
sion of the scenes. Rossetti is himself so much 
delighted with them that I do not doubt their 
possessing qualities of peculiar interest to an 
artist, in the conquering of various technical 
difficulties. Your work, however, cannot become 
popular unless you choose subjects of greater in- 
terest: nor can I in the least direct you how to 
choose them—for there seems to me hardly a 
single point of communion or understanding 
between you and me as to the meaning of the 
word “Subject.” It seems to me that you might 


have sought over most landscapes for miles 


170 RUSKIN TO WILLIAM DAVIS 


together, and not stumbled over anything so little 
rewarding your pains and skill as that “ ditch 
and wheatfield.” 

Probably your modes of selection and habits 
of execution are now so determined that it would 
be mere impertinence in me to suggest others. 
I may however note one thing—namely, what 
seems to me your too great trust to the liquidity 
of the vehicle in blending your colours. Good 
use has been made of this quality by the masters 
of the Pre-Raphaelite school, but it is a dangerous 
temptation: the highest results in oil-painting 
depend on judicious and powerful use of dryer, 
in no wise floating colour. 

I liked the two dogs the best of all I saw—the 
couchant winking one is delicious; and there is 
more sense of real form in this than in the other 
pictures. 

If you by chance should come to London this 
season, I think we might come to some under- 
standing in a chat, if you would give me the 
pleasure of seeing you. 


Truly yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


“PRARAPHAELITE EXHIBITION” 171 


89. 


THe “ PrerarHaruire Exarerrion,” Russell 


Place. 


A semi-publie collection was got together in the 
summer of 1857 by Madox Brown and some of his 
friends, in Russell Place, Fitzroy Square (now merged, 
I think, in Charlotte Street). The exhibitors did 
not bestow any particular name upon their collec- 
tion, but people then and since were wont to term it 
“The Preraphaelite Exhibition.” A printed list of 
the contributions, seventy-one in number, is now 
before me. Brown sent The Last of England, The 
English Autumn Afternoon, Windermere, The Brent, 
Carrying Corn, King Lear (the tent-scene with Cor- 
delia), Shorn Ridgway, Study of an Infant, Beauty 
before she became acquainted with the Beast, The 
Prisoners of Chillon, a Portrait of myself, and The 
Parting of Cordelia and her Sisters. Holman Hunt 
sent The Haunted Manor, Sketch from a House in New 
Cairo, The Great Sphinx, and the Tennyson Designs 
photographed. Millais sent The Wedding Cards, The 
Foxglove, and Portraits of Wilkie Collins and Holman 
Hunt. Miss Siddal sent Clerk Saunders, Sketches from 
Browning and Tennyson, We are Seven, The Haunted 
Tree, and a Study of a Head. Rossetti sent Dante's 
Dream of the Death of Beatrice, The Annwersary of 
the Death of Beatrice (Dante drawing an Angel), 
Mary Nazarene, Mary Magdalene, The Blue Closet, 


172 “PRARAPHAELITE EXHIBITION” 


Hesterna Rosa, and the Tennyson Designs photo- 
graphed. The remaining exhibitors were Bond, 
Boyce, Brett, Campbell, Collins, Davis, Dickinson, 
Halliday, Hughes, Inchbold, Arthur Lewis, Mar- 
tineau, Seddon (the late), Scott, Windus, J. D. 
Watson, and Wolf. Brown’s Portrait of myself and 
(as I have before said) Miss Siddal’s Haunted Tree 
remain in my possession. 

I give here an extract from a paragraph which I 
find among my scraps—Atheneum, 11 July 1857. 
It may be of some interest, as showing what out- 
siders thought or supposed about Rossetti in these 
early years. I take it that the writer was Mr. Walter 
Thornbury (but cannot positively assert this). It 
will be observed that he attributes to Hunt the 
picture by Brown of The Last of England. ‘This may 
be the merest casual inadvertence; or it may tend 
to indicate how very little attention had as yet been 
paid to the personality and the performances of 
Brown. 


A Preraphaelite Exhibition, perhaps the germ 
of more important self-assertions and reprisals, has 
lately been held privately in Russell Place, Fitzroy 
Square. If the Academy will not do justice, they 
will not be shown justice. Praeraphaelitism has 
taught us all to be exact and thorough, that 
everything is still unpainted, and that there is 


no finality in Art. Its errors, eccentricities, and 


“PRARAPHAELITE EXHIBITION” 173 


wilful aberrations, are fast modifying and soften- 
ing. . . . The exhibitors were Mr. Collins; .. . 
Mr. Millais, the chief of the sect; Mr. H. Hunt, 
the apostle of the order; and Mr. D. Rossetti, 
the original founder of the three-lettered race, 
who is generally spoken of by them in a low 
voice, and is supposed from the fertility of his 
allegorical sketches to be capable of doing any- 
thing, though he does not and will not exhibit 
in public. His designs in this exhibition are 
mystic ones, full of thought and imagination, and 
called Hesterna Rosa, Dante's Dream, and The 
Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice. 'The first 
represents a revel of lovers and their mistresses. 
The one, abandoned and exulting, crowns her lover 
with flowers, the other is lost in remorse. <A 
baboon, grinning as it scratches itself, typifies 
the lost sensuality of the first. Mr. Rossetti’s 
other sketches, The Blue Closet and Mary Mag- 
dalene, attracted much attention. ‘That he is a 
poet and thinker we are the last to doubt; but 
sketching is deceptive and dangerous. It is the 
day-dream of painting. . . . Perhaps next to Mr. 
D. Rossetti’s thoughtful sketches the most in- 
teresting thing was Mr. H. Hunt’s Last Look at 


174 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


England, a fine picture of departing emigrants. 
The mother weeping, the spendthrift shaking his 
fist at the rascally old place that has stripped 
him of everything—a Hogarth fertility of thought 


pervades the picture. 


90. 
Dante Rosserri fo Proressorn Norron. 


If I am not mistaken, Mr. (or Professor) Charles 
Eliot Norton, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was be- 
fore this date a friend of Ruskin’s, and was led by 
Ruskin to examine the Preraphaelite Exhibition, 
which proved very congenial to Mr. Norton’s sym- 
pathies in art; and, in the same connexion, he got 
to know my brother (and also myself) personally. 
My brother, about this time, in writing to Madox 
Brown, called Mr. Norton “a very influential man 
there [z.e. in the United States], and a particularly 
nice fellow.” Mr. Norton invited Rossetti to con- 
tribute something to The Atlantic Monthly, then just 
starting under the editorship of Mr. Lowell. — Ros- 
setti, as we here see, sent a poem—possibly Love's 
Nocturn. Somehow it got lost on the way, and, 
though it turned up afterwards (see No. 105), it 
never appeared in that magazine. What Rossetti 
terms “another long tale unfinished” is clearly 
the St. Agnes of Intercession. Miss Siddal’s drawing, 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 175 


one of those which figured in the Exhibition, must 
be the Clerk Saunders, of which Mr. Norton became 
the purchaser. “ Ruskin’s portrait’’ was not as yet 
begun by my brother; it seems to have gone into 
the hands of Professor Norton, who, I presume, still 
retains it. The drawing mentioned at the close of 
the letter must be the water-colour named Before 
the Battle, of which more anon. 


14 CHATHAM PLACE, 
BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE, 


22 July 1857. 

My Dear Norron, 

Here is what I can send you for No. 1— 
that is always, if it will suit. Like all my things, 
it was written some years ago, but has not been 
printed before. I would prefer it should appear 
with the initial # only, as I have signed it; sup- 
posing there is no objection. 

Morris will not be able to send any tale for 
the first number, not having one by him; but will 
send one later, I make no doubt. I have not yet 
written to W. B. Scott, 1t having been put out of 
my head by other things—but I will write imme- 
diately. A very first-rate man who would pro- 
bably contribute were you to apply to him is 
William Allingham, author of The Music-Master, 


176 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


Day and Night Songs, &c. THis address is Lane, 
Ballyshannon, Ireland. I suppose his poems are 
known in America. ‘They ought to be. 

I have no copy by me of a tale I wrote long 
ago about Art, called Hand and Soul, which it 
strikes me might suit you, as its circulation (in 
a sort of magazine which some of us then began) 
amounted to nothing at the time. My brother 
has copies, I believe. I will ask him to send you 
one. I have another longer tale unfinished. 

Many thanks for what you so kindly say of Miss 
Siddal’s drawing. Iam sure it will give her an 
additional pleasure to hear it. She begged me 
to thank you from her. 

By-the-bye, if there is one thing about which 
I am thoroughly squeamish, it is the correct 
printing of anything I print. Might I beg you, 
as a great favour, to look carefully through the 
proofs of any contribution of mine for me, as I 
suppose it is impossible to get a proof in London. 

And now, my dear Norton, farewell for the 
present. Few things would give me more plea- 
sure than that we should know each other better 
some day. I trust we shall yet, in England or 


elsewhere. You shall hear before long something 


ALLINGHAM TO W. ROSSETTI 177 


about Ruskin’s portrait, and about a drawing too, 


which I mean shall be a good one. 
Very sincerely yours, 


D. G. RosseErrt. 


ce 


Winwiam ALuINncHAM fo WiiitamM Rosserrt. 


LANE, BALLYSHANNON, 
17 August 1857. 


Dear WILLIAM, 

. .- I spent three days at the Man- 
chester Exhibition; one with Clough, near Amble- 
side; and two or three with Tennyson, at Coniston, 
who is cheerful. His chief affliction now is the 
bad poetry which keeps showering on his head 
every post. He ought to put up the umbrella 
of utter neglect, and talks of doing so. He 
praised the P.R.B. designs to his poems in a 
general way, but cares nothing about the whole 
eaters...) 

Yours, 
Witiram ALLINGHAM. 


M 


178 RUSKIN TO W. ROSSETTI 


92. 
JoHn Ruskin fo Witi1AmM Rossetti. 


Curiously enough, | cannot now recollect who it 
was that had given me some information about 
Turner, which I imparted to Ruskin: possibly Mr. 
F. O. Finch, the water-colour painter, whom I met 
two or three times about this date. I met him in 
connexion with the American Exhibition, alluded to 
in the letter—z.e. an Exhibition in America of various 
pictures of the British School, with a certain bias 
towards Preraphaelitism. This was a scheme for 
which I had been engaged as Secretary, and which 
figures more at large in some ensuing letters. 


[ MANCHESTER. 
23 September 1857.] 
Dear Rosserri, 

I have’i a confused notion of having 
intended to thank you particularly for those 
recollections of Turner which you got from 
your friend for me, and of having never done it, 
but I was very glad of them. It is excessively 
difficult to get any statement of that kind fairly 
put down on paper with a name to it; pray 
thank your friend for it very heartily for me, and 


get me any more such things youcan. You must 


CAPT. RUXTON TO W. ROSSETTI 179 


have thought me very hard not to help you with 
American Exhibition; but I have no knowledge 
of America, and do not choose to write one word 
about things which I know nothing of. 

I am anxious to hear of Gabriel’s doings. I 
heard a malicious report the other day from an 
envious person that “he was going to Florence 
and we should hear no more of him.” Please 
write me word to Post Office, Manchester, what he 
is about. 

Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


Do you know, my bankers say the account 
for Mrs. Seddon is only about £380, or was only, 
about three weeks ago. There was £60 in three 


20 subscriptions unpaid, I observed. 


93. 
Carrain Ruxron to WitiiAmM Rossertt. 


Captain Ruxton, a young officer retired from the 
army, was the initiator of the project for an Exhibi- 
tion of British Artin America. He had no particular 
technical knowledge of Art matters, but he had a 
certain sympathy with them, and had of his own 


180 CAPT. RUXTON TO W. ROSSETTI 


accord addressed me, and engaged me as Secretary. 
Before the collection got completed in London for 
transmission to New York, Mr. Gambart, the pic- 
ture-dealer, coalesced with Captain Ruxton for the 
purpose of carrying out the scheme. 


[New YORK. 
29 Seplember 1857.| 
My Dear Rosserri, 


. . . Instead of the four sources of 
returns which the interchange of the exhibitions 
between Philadelphia and New York would have 
yielded, we fall back upon the one chance alone ; 
that chance is weakened, unfortunately, by the 
position of the rooms, and the sudden panic in the 
money market. 'The wisest heads are affrighted 
at the state of commercial affairs in the country. 
Every day brings some startling crash, and lite- 
rally, money is not to be had. It may appear 
absurd, but I could not get a sovereign changed 
yesterday. . . . I saw a wretched animal yester- 
day, who has been obliged to vacate a palace in 
5th Avenue, without so much as enough to pay 
for a bed elsewhere. We could not have under- 
taken our enterprise at a more unfortunate, I may 
say disastrous, time. . . . I am happy to say I 


have not miscalculated the feeling towards the 


CAPT. RUXTON TO W. ROSSETTI 181 


English Exhibition. The Commissioner of the 
Customs has not only given authority to pass 
the frames as well as the pictures free of duty, 
but allows them to be handed over to my agent 


from the ship without examination. .. . 
Ever yours faithfully, 
A. A. Ruxron. 


OA. 
Carprain Ruxtron to Wi.iam Rosser. 


Mr. Holman Hunt’s Light of the World, sent to 
America, was not the painting which now belongs to 
Keble College, Oxford, but a smaller replica of the 
same composition. I have not a good recollection of 
the pictures named The Sailor Boy, Try and Remem- 
ber, and Innocence. Mr Arthur Hughes was, I fancy, 
the author of the first and third. 


[NEw York, 
About 10 October 1857. | 
My Drar Rosserrt, 

... L have filled six galleries, and each 
room is well covered, the pictures being all closely 
jammed together... . 

.. . Durand (of The Crayon) mildly requests 


me to apply to your brother for a portfolio of his 


182 CAPT. RUXTON TO W. ROSSETTI 


drawings. I promised to make the request, but I 
did not answer for its fulfilment. Your brother 
will not be displeased to hear that great interest 
is felt here in his works. 

I will attend to all Mr. Hunt’s suggestions 
about The Light of the World. Please to report 
to him that a man said, “ Never mind the gas, 
that picture will light us up.” A fine fellow, 
who has made to himself a fortune of over 
150,000 or more of dollars by the sweat of his 
brow, said, “Td rather have that picture than 
any other you’ve got, for there’s something in it 
that’s different to any other picture I ever saw.” 
P. R. Bism takes with the working men—they 
look, and they look, and they look, and they say 
something that the author of the picture would 
be pleased to hear. The Sailor Boy, Try and 
Remember, King Lear—above all, The Light of 
the World—Innocence, April Love, are immensely 


popular among my hangers. Tere 
Ever yours very truly, 


Augustus Ruxton. 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 183 


95. 
JoHn Ruskin fo Dante Rossetti. 


The picture of which Ruskin speaks in such un- 
complimentary terms must be the S¢. Catharine. 


[ DENMARK HIL1. 
? 1857. ] 

My Dear Rossetti, 

I was put out to-day, as you must have 
seen, for I can’t hide it when Iam vexed. I don’t 
at all like my picture now; the alteration of the | 
head from the stoop forward to the throw back 
makes the whole figure quite stiff and stupid; 
besides, the off cheek is a quarter of a yard too 
thin. 

If there is any one else who would like the 
picture, let them have it, and let the!,debt stand 
over; but if you would like to have it off your 
mind, you must take out the head and put it in 
as it was at first, or I never could look at it. 

That Magdalene is magnificent to my mind, in 
every possible way: it stays by me. 

I must see Ida; I want to tell her one or two 


things about her way of study. I can’t bear to 


184 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


see her missing her mark only by a few inches, 


which she might as easily win as not. 
Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 
96. 


JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rossertt. 


[DENMARK HILL. 


} ? 1857.] 
Dear Rosserryt, 


Alls quite right. I don’t want the 
money a bit, and I think your note reads rather 
sulky in talking about wanting to send it back. 
“Stays by me” meant stays in my eyes and head. 
But I do wish you could get the Magdalene for 
me. I would give that oil picture for it willingly, 
at 50 guineas. 

You are a conceited monkey, thinking your 
pictures right when I tell you positively they are 
wrong. What do you know about the matter, I 
should like to know ? 

You'll find out in six months what an absurdity 
that St. Catharine is. 

Yours affectionately, 


J. R. 


CAPT. RUXTON TO W. ROSSETTI 185 


97. 
Caprain Ruxtron to Wriiu11AmM Rossertt. 


There had been a project, which at one time 
seemed not far from realization, that Mr. Madox 
Brown should accompany Captain Ruxton to America 
as art-superintendent of the Exhibition: the two 
men met through my introduction. Mr. Miller, here 
mentioned as the owner of Turner’s Whalers, was 
Mr. John Miller of Liverpool, a man deservedly 
beloved by all who knew him. 


[NEw YorK. 
20 October 1857. ] 
Dear Rosser, 


I have to announce a most successful 
opening of the Exhibition at the private view 
last night. All the leading people of the city 
were present—indeed the rooms were crammed, 
and the most cordial and kindly feeling was 
manifested... . The Light of the World creates 
a great sensation; but Madox Brown’s King 
Lear seems to be the most popular picture of the 
Exhibition. . . . I much regret that Madox 
Brown did not come out with me, but I have had 
the assistance of Mr. Durand, the President of 


the Academy, and of Stillman. . . . I hope Mr. 


186 RUSKIN TO W. ROSSETTI 


Miller will allow Turner’s Whalers to come—Mr. 
Mulready may obtain two of his—and something 


must come from Millais. . . . 
Yours very truly, 


Aucustus RuxtTon. 


98. 


JoHN Ruskin to Wrii1amM Rossettt. 


About this time I had a fancy for studying drawing 
according to the methods enforced by Ruskin in 
the Working Men’s College; and for two or three 
months I attended his class there. To Ruskin’s very 
pertinent inquiry, why I should not join my brother’s 
class instead, I hardly know the exact answer now; 
except that my idea was to do some rudimentary 
work from casts of leaves, or from flowers &c., 
rather than attempt human forms and faces. The 
“ glorious work” at Oxford was the tempera-painting, 
now perished, in the Union Debating Hall. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
27 October 1857. | 
My Drar Rosserrt, 
I should be delighted to have you for 
a pupil; but I don’t understand at all. Why 


in the world shouldn’t you work under your 


N 
NS 
™ 

~ 

N 

NS 

~ 

ate 
~ 
ee 
rn 
N 


DGRKosselte. 








W. STILLMAN TO W. ROSSETTI 187 


brother? and what will people say about your 
being in my class instead of his? I shall be at 
the tea to-morrow, and at my class on Thursday 
at one, and, to whichever you can come, you will 
be able to tell me all about it. What glorious 
work Dante is doing at Oxford ! 


Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


99. 
Wiuuram StitutMan fo Wrt11AmM Rosserrvt. 


Some of the pictures singled out by Mr. Stillman 
for censure have passed out of my recollection. I 
cannot say who painted The Invasion of the Saxons, 
or The London Magdalene. ‘The context rather 
suggests that this latter was the performance of 
Miss Siddal, but I do not remember any such fact. 


[NEw YorRK. 


15 Movember 1857. | 
My Dear Mr. Rossertt, 


I have been some time intending to 
write you with regard to the Exhibition. . . . 
The Committee seem to have thought that things 
which were second-rate at home were fit to re- 


present English art here, while our amateurs are 


188 W. STILLMAN TO W. ROSSETTI 


in the main as well acquainted with English art 
as the English public itself. The feeling here was 
that the Exhibition was intended as an exposi- 
tion of the attainment of English art; yet there 
are many pictures which the public feel were sent 
here in presumption of ignorance or bad taste on 
our part, and we are a sensitive people on such 
points. . . . The prerephaelite pictures have 
saved the Exhibition so far as oil pictures are 
concerned, but even they should have been culled 
more carefully. You should have thought that 
the eccentricities of the school were new to us, 
and left out such things as Hughes's Far Rosa- 
mond and April Love, The Invasion of the Saxons, 
with Miss Siddal’s Clerk Saunders, and The London 
Magdalene ; all which may have their value to 
the initiated, but to us generally are childish and 
trifling. ‘Then you have too much _ neglected 
landscape, which to us is far more interesting than 
your history painting. . . . There must be some- 
thing vital and earnest in a picture to make it 
interesting to our public,—and any picture which 
has not that had better stay in England. The 
P.R.B. pictures have, I venture to say, attracted 


more admirers than all the others for this reason, 


W. STILLMAN TO W. ROSSETTI 189 


and at the same time been more fully appreciated 
than they are at this day in England. 

oe a In spite of all these drawbacks and the 
straitness of the times, the Exhibition holds 
its own and grows into wider favour every day. 
And something of this, I must say, is owing to 
Mr. Ruxton, whose management has been most 
admirable, and whose excellent address and_per- 
sonal influence has won him friends and favour 
with all classes and parties. . . . Ruxton capti- 
vates all who come near him, and what personal 
influence can do for such an undertaking, his 
will have done. ‘The artists unite with him, 
and the club welcomes him, and the ladies 
especially become workers for the success of the 
gallery... . 

One thing might as well be said to the artists 
contributors. Our picture-buyers rarely buy from 
the exhibitions,—they prefer pictures that have 
not been exhibited : and the true policy for them 
is to send oul such pictures as will provoke com- 
missions. 

Yours sincerely, 


W. J. STILLMAN. 


190 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


100. 
DanreE Rossetrrt to Mapox Brown. 


By “Topsy” (sometimes “ Top”) my _ brother 
meant the illustrious William Morris: the origin 
of the misnomer (which was, I believe, invented by 
some one else) does not deserve discussion. Pollen 
was (or is) Mr. J. Hungerford Pollen, a clergyman 
of the Church of England who became a Roman 
Catholic either before or soon after the date of this 
letter. He had already done some decorative work 
in Oxford, which excited a good deal of notice. 
Rossetti’s “biography” of Brown is the short ac- 
count which appeared in Men of the Time. 


[87 H1GH STREET, OXFORD. 
? 1857. | 
My Dear Brown, 


I trust fully to send £10 to-morrow, 
and more as soon as ever I can. I am most 
sorry and ashamed about it: but find myself 
sorely in the mire (of course) about this work— 
which I ought not to have undertaken at all, 
knowing myself. Not that it goes slowly for the 
way we do it, but we are doing it much more 
carefully than we meant. However it will soon 


be done for all that, I am sure. It is very 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 191 


jolly work in itself, but really one is mad to do 
such things. I suppose my debt on Russell 
Place nears £10, and then I owe you £40, do 
I not? or is it more? I shall do my utmost 
regularly now, and am disgusted at myself to 
think of your needing to ask for it after all your 
kindness. 

Jones, Topsy, Pollen, and I, are all at work 
here now. I hope you will see our work when 
done somehow. 

That man has been writing to me again for 
your biography, which I thought I was too late 
for. So to-day I immortalize you. 

Yours affectionately, 
De Gale 
101. 


JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rossertt. 


[DENMARK HILL. 


? 1857.] 
Dear Rossertt, 


You must not take that Turner—it 
has been hawking about in London this 18 
months —it is the worst drawing ‘Turner ever 


made. I would not give £20 for it, suspecting 


192 RUSKIN TO W. ROSSETTI 


it even of being retouched. MacCracken ought 
not to have tried to fasten it on you. It was 
quite fair two years ago—but not after he had 
tried to sell it everywhere and failed. 

Don’t annoy yourself about anything you owe 
me—but do your commissions for other people 
and Llandaff as fast as you can. 

Or if you like to do another side of the Union 
I will consider that as 70 guineas off my debt: 
provided there’s no absolute nonsense in it, and 
the trees are like trees, and the stones like stones. 

I hope to see you to-morrow, but write this in 
case of missing you. 

Yours always affectionately, 


J. Ruskin. 


102. 
Joun Ruskin to Witi1AmM Rosserrt. 


“The roof”? means the roof of the Union Hall in 
Oxford. 
[DENMARK HILL. 
29 December 1857. | 
Dear Rosserrt, 
Pil look to the accounts directly. 


Miss Swale and Miss Heaton I have down as 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 193 


received. Marshall I have not; which surprises 
and vexes me, as I thought I had been perfectly 
methodical in the whole affair. I remember 
Gabriel’s giving me something—and my giving 
him a receipt—so I have no doubt your account 
is right. Would Mrs. Seddon kindly take the 
trouble to come to the bank herself? I would 
meet her there—and the whole sum might be at 
once transferred into her name. 

Any day at three o’clock would do for me. 

The roof 2s and is not satisfactory—clever, but 
not right. 
You know the fact is they’re all the least bit 


crazy, and it’s very difficult to manage them. 
Yours always truly, 


J*® Ruskin. 


If you use enclosed card you'll hear me go over 
a good deal I’ve said before, but I hope more 


clearly. 
103. 
Dante Rossetrtt fo Mapox Brown. 


Mr. Plint was a stockbroker in Leeds, who became 
towards 1858 a very liberal purchaser of paintings of 
N 


194 CAPT. RUXTON TO W. ROSSETTI 


the Preraphaelite order. He died in 1861. “Topsy’s 
picture” was a Tristram and Yseult. 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
? January 1858.] 
Dear Browy, 


. . . Plint was here on Tuesday even- 
ing and wants me to tell you that he wishes 
you to do as you wish about the sleeve in 
Christ and Peter. He would evidently prefer to 
have it done. He had given Jones a £350 com- 
mission, and bought that pen and ink drawing 
for £25. He wants something of Martineau and 
Collins, to whom I have spoken. He has bought 
Topsy’s picture for 75 guineas. 

Yours, 


D. G. R. 


P.S.—Ruskin has offered to remit my debt to 
him of £70 if I will paint a second picture at 
Union, so I think I shall. 


104. 
Caprain Ruxron to Wri11AmM RosseErtt. 


This letter, though a long one, is incomplete. 
“ Horsley’s Prince Harry”’ is a large picture which 
had been at the Westminster Hall competition of 


CAPT. RUXTON TO W. ROSSETTI 195 


1847—the scene from Shakespear's Henry IV. (or 
indeed from history) where Prince Henry, sup- 
posing his father to be dead, puts on the crown. 
Madox Brown’s Cordelia at the Bedside of Lear did 
not sell in America. 


[ PHILADELPHIA, 
11 Mebruary 1858.] 
My Dear Rossetti, 


I have accepted an offer, conditionally 
upon Mr. Hunt’s approval, of £300 for The Light 
of the World. It is from a gentleman, Mr. 
Wolf, who has the finest collection of pictures 
in New York, and who apologizes for making an 
offer below the sum named, but pleads the pres- 
sure of the times, and inability to pay more 
just now. As far as the times go it is a very 
good offer, and I hope Mr. Hunt will be inclined 
to accept it, for his picture will go into good 
company. ... 

I have sold Leighton’s Romeo and Juliet for 
£400 sterling, and Lucy’s Lord and Lady William 
Russell for £400. . . . 

You must consider what has been already 
done as great success, considering all things. 
There is some talk of a subscription to buy 
Horsley’s Prince Harry for the large saloon of the 


196 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


Philadelphian Opera House, a scheme which shall 
not die out from any lack of spurring from me. 
Had not the Romeo and Juliet been bought by 
a private gentleman, Mr. Harrison, a public sub- 
scription would have been raised to secure it 
for the Academy. Oakes’s two landscapes are 
reserved for the Academy if there are funds to 
buy them at the close of the Exhibition. Iam . 
nearly certain they will be bought. No picture 
has met with such even approbation as Brown’s 
King Lear. Admirers and abusers of P.R.Bism 
alike join in its praise. I am determined to 
find a purchaser for it, although I have not yet 
had any offer. 

It will be well for all the artists who have 
sold pictures to replace them by new ones for 


Boston. . . 


105. 


Dante Rossrrrt to Proressor Norton, 


Cambridge, Massachusetts. 


The “single figure of Mary [Magdalene] leaving 
the house of feasting’ was, I suppose, the Mary 
Magdalene contributed to the Preraphaelite Exhi- 
bition. In the volume of The Early Italian Poets, 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 197 


the poem No. 28 is one by Cavalcanti, to which 
Rossetti supplied the heading, “ He laments the 
presumption and incontinence of his youth.’”’ The 
poem “about the brute of a skipper,” which Rossetti 
surmised to be by Lowell, is really by Whittier, 
Old Flud Ireson. Holman Hunt's picture, men- 
tioned towards the close of the letter, must be The 
Finding of Christ in the Temple. Morris’s volume of 
poems is his first, The Defence of Guenevere, &c. 


14 CHATHAM PLACE, BLACKFRIARS. 


July 1858. 
My Dear Norton, 


What a criminal I feel in writing your 
kind name at last I cannot tell you. 'Too surely 
did I get your first letter so long ago, and ever 
since have meant answering it; but, though I do 
not disguise from myself that the failure of such 
intention has been caused partly by laziness, I am 
also conscious that one reason has been my wish 
to be ready with a drawing which I could offer 
you when I should write, for the commission you 
gaveme. Such a drawing I recently finished, and 
since then had been more than once meaning to 
write, when your last letter comes, and shreds 
away from me at once the last remnant of the 
merit of spontaneity in answering. So I must 


feel like a sneak, and e’en go on. 


198 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


Business first. ‘The drawing which I have for 
you is called Before the Battle, and represents a 
castlefull of ladies who have been embroidering 
banners which are now being fastened to the 
spears by the Lady of the castle. ‘There are a 
good many figures and half figures large and 
small in it; and I hope that in colour it is one 
of the best things I have done. I do not send 
it you at the same time with this letter (though 
it is quite finished), partly because, with your 
permission, I should like to keep it a little to 
show; and partly also that I do not quite like 
selling you such a decided “pig in a poke” as 
this would be if I packed it off before knowing 
whether the subject of it pleased your fancy 
beforehand. These chivalric Froissartian themes 
are quite a passion of mine, but whether of yours 
also I do not know. If you decidedly felt un- 
kindly towards it, I dare say I might be able, 
by the time I got your answer, to offer you in- 
stead a finished drawing of a different class of 
subject. Meanwhile (to be thoroughly impu- 
dent, all things considered) may I beg your 
answer at once, that I may know how to act in 


the matter? and (worst of all, to be thoroughly 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON — 199 


sordid) may I beg, without mincing, that you 
will cotisider this drawing or another as ready 
to be delivered at once on your decision, and that 
you will let me have with your answer to this 
letter, by return of post if possible, the amount 
of the commission (50 guineas if I am not mis- 
taken)? for, to tell you the truth, my Oxford 
labours of love have resulted in leaving me a 
little aground. As soon as I hear that you wish 
your drawing forwarded, you shall have it. 

I may now go on to tell you something about 
the Oxford pictures. I dare say that you know 
that the building is one by Woodward — the 
Debating Room of the Union Society. Its 
beauty and simple character seemed to make it 
a delightful receptacle for wall paintings, and 
accordingly a few of us thought we would deco- 
rate it, as an experiment in a style to which I, 
for one, should like to devote the whole of my 
time better than to any other branch of the art. 
With the exception of Arthur Hughes and my- 
self, those engaged upon it have made there 
almost their début as painters; they are Edward 
Jones, W. Morris (of whom you saw some stories 


in Olaford| and Clambridge| Mag{azine], and 


200 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


who, I think, must have sent you his volume of 
poems), Spencer Stanhope, Pollen, and*V. C. 
Prinsep. Jones’s picture is a perfect masterpiece, 
as is all he does. His subject in the series 
(which you know is from the Mort Arthur), re- 
presents Merlin being imprisoned beneath a stone 
by the Damsel of the Lake. 

My own subject (for each of us has as yet done 
only one) is Sir Launcelot prevented by his sin 
from entering the chapel of the San Grail. He 
has fallen asleep before the shrine full of angels, 
and, between him and it, rises in his dream the 
image of Queen Guenevere, the cause of all. She 
stands gazing at him with her arms extended 
in the branches of an apple-tree. As a com- 
panion to this I shall paint a design, which I 
have made for the purpose, of the attainment 
of the San Grail by Launcelot’s son Galahad, 
together with Bors and Percival. 

The series commences with Pollen’s picture, 
King Arthur obtaining the Sword Excalibur from 
the Damsel of the Lake, and ends with Hughes’s 
Arthur carried away to Avalon and the Sword 
thrown back mto the Lake. 'The other pictures 
painted are, first, by Morris, $% Palomides’ 


ROSSETTI 'TO PROF. NORTON 201 


Jealousy of Sir Tristram; second, by Prinsep, 
Sir Pellias leaving the Lady Ettarde ; and third, 
by Stanhope, Siz Gawaine meeting Three Ladies 
at a Well. Several spaces still remain to be 
filled, and will be so gradually as time allows. 
Something more, if not all, will be done this 
long vacation. I shall be going down there 
myself almost immediately. The works you know 
are all very large,—the figures considerably above 
life size, though at their height from the ground 
they hardly look so. I trust, when the work 1s 
finished, you will see it some day. ‘There is no 
work like it for delightfulness in the doing, and 
none I believe in which one might hope to delight 
others more according to his powers. 

I forgot to say that over the porch of the build- 
ing we have, carved in stone, the Round Table, 
with Arthur and the Knights. ‘This Munro has 
done from a design of mine. I might tell you 
of other things I have been engaged on, but 
they are all small things. I am now, I hope, 
likely to be wholly occupied, or almost wholly, 
for some time, on two works of a larger size than 
any pictures—.e. easel pictures—I have done for 


some time. One of them is the triptych for 


202 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


Llandaff Cathedral, which I am beginning at 
last,—the centre-piece being from a design which 
you saw and mentioned so kindly in your article 
in the first Atlantic, for which I have never yet 
thanked you. It is that of the Nativity; for 
the side pieces to which I have figures of David 
as a shepherd and David as a king—the ancestor 
of Christ, embodying in his own person the 
shepherd and king who are seen worshiping in 
the Nativity. The other picture I am doing is 
Mary Magdalene entering the house where Christ 
is, with her wicked companions trying “to chaff 
her out of it.” This has many figures. You will 
remember a single figure of Mary leaving the 
house of feasting, for you mentioned it too I know. 

Another of my occupations (but at leisure 
moments) is the getting through the press at 
last my volume of Karly Italian Poets. Of these 
I send you some proofs herewith— being the 
poems of Guido Cavalcanti, whom Dante styles 
the “first of his friends.” The whole of this 
book of mine will be, strictly speaking, the first 
public appearance of the poems in any language ; 
for no Italian has ever edited them so that they 


can be in the least read or understood; not 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON — 203 


even putting question and answer together in 
such poems as are written in correspondence, of 
which there are instances among those I send. 
I have had to find out all that is to be found 
for myself in the course of a good many years 
during which they have occupied me; and I really 
feel it to be worth doing, as they are an immense 
accession even to one’s means of understanding 
Dante’s early life, apart from their own poetical 
interest. I need not remind you, I am sure, that, 
as these poems will be (at least in part) the 
property of a publisher, they could not yet be to 
any extent reprinted from the proof sheets. The 
book will be a rather big one, and will include 
such biographical matter as is necessary,—for 
instance, a notice of Cavalcanti, but this I have 
not yet written. Many thanks for the photo- 
graph from your Giorgione, which I should at 
once pronounce as genuine as one can ever say 
such things are, particularly considering where 
you got it, which certainly gives it a fair right 
to be believed. Of itself one can hardly judge 
without the colour, no doubt; but, with that, I 
can understand its being a thing to dream before. 


I do not know whether I am glad you have 


204 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


recovered those verses of mine; since, if they 
turn out so foggy, not only to you but to Mr. 
Lowell also, I have no doubt they really are so, 
and it is not much use extending their sphere of 
perplexity. But let them be in your hands to 
use as you like. By-the-bye, I must assure you, 
in self-defence, that all obscurities in my transla- 
tions are a thousand times more murky in the 
originals. One poem—No. 28—I have endea- 
voured to seem knowing about in the headings 
I have put, but must confess in private that I 
do not half understand it. And this applies 
to some others. 

I saw lately a friend of yours—Mr. H. Bright, 
who was introduced to me kindly by Mrs. Gaskell, 
and who by-the-bye saw and liked the drawing 
Before the Battle. Of Ruskin I have no news 
lately. He has been some time out of England, 
in Switzerland and elsewhere. We have spoken 
more than once of his portrait, and he is ready, 
I believe, whenever I am, and he is in town. 
I trust it will not be long before I begin. In 
the numbers of the Atlantic which I saw, I 
remember — besides my thankfulness for your 


friendly notice—several poems by Emerson in 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON — 205 


his grand vein, and one or two striking tales, 
better sometimes I thought in idea than in execu- 
tion—one of these was The Queen of the Red 
Chessmen. Who wrote this? ‘There seemed a 
wild appropriateness In much of it, but it struck 
me that the human and superhuman were not 
quite comfortably grafted on to each other. Had 
I the numbers by me, I should find more to 
speak of, I doubt not. Was there anything 
of yours besides the Manchester paper? And 
of Mr. Lowell’s? By-the-bye I should suspect 
him of a forcible piece about a brute of a skipper 
being tarred and feathered. 

Your “ Shady Hill” is a tempting address, Dee 
one would wish to be. It reminds one some- 
how of the Pilerim’s Progress where the plea- 
sant names of heavenly places really make you 
feel as if you could get there if the journey 
could only be made in that very way,—the pit- 
falls plain to the eye and all the wicked people 
with wicked names. I find no shady hill or vale, 
though, in these places and pursuits which I have 
to do with. It seems all glare and change, and 
nothing well done. Another man might do 
better, no doubt, and find the shade that he 


206 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


could work in. But I see it is always to be thus 
with me. You do not tell me of everything! 
you are doing on your Shady Hill or elsewhere. 

I fear you will find this letter to be all J’s 
(except the hook for the money), so let me try 
if I can tell you anything of any one else. Hunt 
has not yet finished his picture, which will be a 
wonder when it is done at last. Madox Brown 
is still working at his Work, which I fancy 
you saw,—a large modern picture. My brother 
has been largely occupied with duties in your 
neighbourhood, and I suppose the English Ex- 
hibition may be considered wn fait accomple. 

All send you their kind regards. My im- 
pression is that Morris must have sent you his 
volume of poems, which I am sure you would 
like greatly. I am afraid, from your not telling 
me, that no one has much liked Clerk Saunders. 
All I can say is, if they don’t, they’re wrong. 

The Brownings are not to be in England this 
year. They talk of Egypt for the winter. 

Believe me, dear Norton, 
ever yours sincerely, 


D. G. RosseErrt. 
1 Query—anything, 


C. ROSSETTI TO W. ROSSETTI 207 


106. 


CuristiIna Rosserr1 to WitiiAm Rossertt, 


Freshwater. 


45 Upper ALBANY STREET, 
LONDON, N.W. 


18 August 1858. 
My Dear Writi1ay, 


Your letters, showing that you are en- 
joying yourself, cheer us like sunbeams and 
produce in us a moon-like content. . . . 

We have revisited the Zoological Gardens. 
Lizards are in strong force, tortoises active, alli- 
gators looking up. ‘The weasel-headed armadillo, 
as usual, evaded us. A tree-frog came to light, 
the exact image of a tin toy to follow a magnet 
in a slop-basin. ‘The blind wombat and neigh- 
bouring porcupine broke forth into short-lived 
hostilities, but apparently without permanent 
results. ‘The young puma begins to bite. Your 
glorious sea-anemones—I well know the straw- 
berry specimen, but do not remember the green 


and purple... . 
Your affectionate sister, 


Curistina G. Rossetti. 


208 BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 


107. 
Wriiu1amM Rosserri to Frances Rossertt. 


FRESHWATER GATE. 
1 September 1858. 
Dearest Mamma, 


. Tennyson has been back since 
Friday, and took the trouble of looking me up 
on Saturday; but bent his steps through some 
mistake to Alum Bay—some six times too far 
off—where of course he could learn nothing of 
me. I spent Monday very pleasantly at his very 
commodious house (not half a mile from here), 
and shall return as often as I can spare myself 
from here. He found the Norway travelling very 
laborious. He and his wife (a most lovely human 
creature) like Gabriel’s Arthur Watched by Weep- 
ing Queens as well as, or better than, any other 
illustration in the edition. . 


Your 
W. M. R. 


108. 
Rorert Brownince to WILLIAM Rossetti. 


This letter refers to a photograph of Mrs. Brown- 
ing which, under my superintendence, was engraved 


BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 209 


by Mr. Barlow as a frontispiece to an edition of 
Aurora Leigh. The result was partially, by no 
means entirely, satisfactory to me. My brother, as 
well as myself, paid a great deal of attention to 
this matter; and perhaps the notes which he made 
on the first proof of the engraving may deserve 
extraction. “The eyebrows more square, as in 
photograph, and the further eyebrow continued to 
the outline next the hair, instead of stopping short. 
The hair brought a little more down over the fore- 
head, and the parting-line not left quite so raw. 
More tone on the forehead, and indeed all over the 
face. The mouth is considerably in need of correc- 
tion. This may be done by adding a line of shadow 
all along the top of the upper lip, thus lessening the 
curve upward at the corner, which gives a sort of 
smile not in the photograph, and not characteristic 
of the original. A touch may be added (as I have 
done) beneath the corner of the mouth, to assist the 
alteration. The line of shadow added to the upper 
lip will also serve to lessen the space between nose 
and mouth, the cleft in the centre of which space 
requires also to be more strongly marked. The 
under lip more positively marked, which is done by 
slightly raising and darkening the shadow beneath 
it. The eyes to be made larger, and less looking 
out of the corners, and the shadow of the nearer 
eye to be brought slightly closer to the nose. The 
nostril to be made rather larger and deeper. The 
hair to be darkened all over. The shoulder and 
back to be slightly lowered, as I have made them. 
O 


210 BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 


The outer line of the arm to be considerably curved 
by adding to the sleeve. More tone on the hand, 
and slight shadows on the dress underneath the 
jacket, to remove the cutting line. The print would 
gain greatly by being cut smaller all round, and 
most essentially by the background being deepened 
to its present tone, and the under-dress toned all 
over, as I have done. The top line of the table 
also requires tone. Other slight modifications will 


be perceived.” 
FLORENCE, 
4 Movember 1858. 
Dear Mr. Rosserri, 


Allingham writes to me that you would 
be content, out of the kindness of your heart, to 
superintend the engraving of a photograph of my 
wife which I am anxious should be well done. 
There are caricatures extant, published indeed 
both in England and America, which induced her 
to sit to the sun; and, as the result is quite his 
own, without retouching, I want to put so much 
of the truth in evidence as such a photograph 
affords. ‘There is too much shadow and exag- 
geration about the corners of the mouth, the 
eyes have iris and pupil run into one blackish- 
ness, the hair is wanting in the shadows that 
characterize it, and there’s a bit of white look- 
ing like a clerical band which is the white 


BROWNING TO CHAPMAN 211 


background left white: but, for all these things, 
the whole is like, so I want the engraver to 
keep it so. 

Will you really look after this for us? Alling- 
ham assures us that you will, and my own remem- 
brances reassure us, so I ask the favour. There’s 
your brother, and Woolner, for instance—our dear 
friends, we well know—but I trust they are busied 
with engravers on their own account. 

You will be glad to know that my wife is much 
better (she was very unwell in the spring). We 
go to Rome in a week or ten days. Her kind 
regard goes with mine. 

Yours faithfully ever, 


Rozerr Browntinac. 


109. 
Rozsert Brownine to Mr. CHapmMan. 


This letter, addressed to the senior partner in the 
publishing firm of Chapman & Hall, came into my 
hands in connection with the preceding. 


FLORENCE, 
Dear CHAPMAN, 4 November 1858. 
We arrived a week ago, got over the 


Mont Cenis before the snow fell, and find ourselves 


212 BROWNING TO CHAPMAN 


safely here. ‘There is a winter just set in, so pre- 
maturely that we look for it to break up in a few 
days and give us the last of the fine weather, by 
which the best thing we can do will be to set off 
again for Rome, where we pass some months. My 
wife is so much the better for the stay in France 
that I shall clinch the advantage if Ican. .. . 
Next, the photograph; you will have received 
it, I hope, long ago: and now, about the engray- 
ing. You will bear to be told—in the glory of 
your success with F'rederick—that Carlyle don’t 
digest “‘the children” at all, saying with entire 
truth that “the engraver is a mere mechanic, 
and has changed Freddy from a pretty boy of 
nine into a dwarf of fifteen.” I have not seen for 
myself, but so he says, and preciously frightened I 
am at its coming to be my wife’s turn. For the 
photograph is good, and there is only wanting 
justice to it. Now please remember all my 
admirable qualities, patience, long-suffering, and 
so on, and particularly oblige me in this following 
point: Let William Rossetti, whose kindness will 
bear the burden, advise and superintend in the 
choice of the engraver and generally in the busi- 


ness. I know that he will bring it about capitally. 


RUSKIN TO W. ROSSETTI 213 


We have many artistic friends in London generous 
enough to care about our concerns and help us in 
such a matter: but I think William Rossetti is 
our man just now, so I write to him, knowing 
indeed that he has expressed his willingness to do 
what we want. My wife will send you the cor- 
rected Aurora Leigh before we leave this place, 


if possible—some part of it, at all events. 


Rozsert Browninec. 


110. 


JoHN Ruskin to WitiiAm Rossettt. 


? 


The phrase “ more deciphering” relates to some 
work which I had volunteered to do in connexion 
with the arrangement of sketches &c. by Turner, 
which Ruskin was then accomplishing at the National 
Gallery. A number of Turner’s notebooks and 
jottings passed through my hands; and I “de- 
ciphered ” them to the best of my ability—the hand- 
writing being mostly execrable, and the spelling &c. 
the reverse of blameless. 


8 December 1858. 
Dear RosseErrt, 


I fear there is no money at the bank. 


The cheque I drew was for £550—if not more. 


214 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


I will look at the receipt: but if you are pass- 
ing at the bank just ask if any more is paid in 
—and tell me about my subscription to Hogarth 
Club—I can’t exhibit anything. Yes, more de- 
ciphering—please, but after New Year. 


Always yours affectionately, 


J. RuskIn. 


111. 
Dante Rosserrt to Mapox Brown. 


Some uncertainty had arisen about drawings con- 
tributed by Mr. Pollen to a collection at the Hogarth 
Club. Mr. Thomas Morten was a young painter, 
who had sent a picture which was not generally 
liked (I myself saw no serious objection to it), and 
he had been persuaded to withdraw it. “ Lady 
Trevelyan’s drawing’ by Rossetti must have been 
the water-colour of Mary i the House of John. 
Some readers may like to know who were the 
members of the Hogarth Club: I therefore add 
after this letter the names which stand printed 
on a card dated 1859. These names show the 
Artistic Members only: there were other Mem- 
bers, not perhaps very numerous—myself one of 
them. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 215 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
Christmas, December 1858.] 


Dear Brown, 

I have not yet thanked you for your 
note about Pollen, and am glad to find it is all 
right. 

It is now that the mistakes in elections turn 
up most lamentably. ‘The first things that catch 
the eye now, since laborious removal of Morten, 
are 3 staring shop Puseyisms by B., the largest 
figure pieces in the place. The rest of the Ex- 
hibition will consist very mainly of very second- 
rate landscapes by A. Hunt &c. Jones’ drawings 
look splendid, but it seems they mean to hang 
his glass cartoons in the passage, which indeed 
seems necessary, as they kill everything abso- 
lutely. I was meaning to send Lady Trevelyan’s 
drawing, but she wants it home. However, 
Stephens as Secretary has written, and I suppose 
will get it. I have nothing else I care to send. 
Were the David Rewx finished, I would be glad 
to send that—but shall not have done it much 
before a fortnight I suppose. I would then send 
it with the Llandaff sketches, if the Exhibition 


is not open before, but I suppose it will be; nor 


216 MEMBERS OF HOGARTH CLUB 


do I know how long they could remain there, 
as regards Seddon. I suppose there is to be 
something else of yours; but really, what be- 
tween Morten, B., and the small landscapes, it 
seems to me as if it would have been much 
wiser to put it off for a month or two till better 


things were ready. 
Merry Christmas to you all from 


Yours affectionately, 


DG 


Artistic Mrmpers oF THE Hocartru Civ, 





1859. 
G. F. Bodley. Michael F. Halliday. 
G. P. Boyce. Arthur Hughes. 
John Brett. Alfred W. Hunt. 
F. Madox Brown. W. Holman Hunt. 
W. S. Burton. J. W. Inchbold. 
James Campbell. Edward Burne-Jones. 
J. M. Carrick. Edward Lear. 
John R. Clayton. F. Leighton. 
Ryre Crowe, Jun. Robert B. Martineau. 
William Davis. William Morris. 


Alfred D. Fripp. T. Morten. 


BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 217 


J. W. Oakes. George Edmund Street. 

J. H. Pollen. John L. Tupper. 

Val. Prinsep. Henry Wallis. 

Dante G. Rossetti. G. F. Watts. 

John Ruskin. Philip Webb. 

W. B. Scott. W. L. Windus. 

J. R. Spencer Stanhope. | Benjamin Woodward. 

Frederic G. Stephens. — | Thomas Woolner. 
Honorary. 

David Cox. NVI VGestro at 

F. Danby, A.R.A. William Hunt. 

Eug. Delacroix. | J. F. Lewis. 


W. Mulready, R.A. 


112. 
Rozert Brownine to Witi1amM Rossertt. 


This letter shows that I had some idea of writing 
for publication an “ Exposition of Sordello.” I 
forget whether I had any views as to the form of 
publication which might prove practicable: at any 
rate, the Exposition was not published, nor even 
written, It is pleasant to read the generous terms 
in which Browning, in his P.S., speaks of William 
Morris's first volume of poetry, The Defence of 
Guenevere and Other Poems. 


218 BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 


ROME, 43 Bocca DI LEONE. 
31 December 1858. 
My Dear Writi1am RosseEtTI, 

(If you will let me write that)—you 
must have thought hardly of me unless admon- 
ished that the Roman post-office is no better 
than ever, and that a letter directed to Flor- 
ence waits there—and when redirected to Rome, 
as in this case, waits there; and when finally 
arrived at R. B.’s, alas, waits there longer than 
it should! Yours was too kind a letter, how- 
ever, to want a guarantee of gratitude in words 
at all—much less prompt words. So I say slowly 
now—thank you most sincerely for the attention 
to the engraving which you promise: I shall be 
quite careless and happy about it now, and so 
will my wife. In the other matter, the “ Expo- 
sition” of Sordello you had a thought of making 
—how can I be other than honoured and gratified 
in every way by such a thought, and benefited 
by such an act if it arrives so far? In that case, 
use what you will, do what you will—of course 
with exactly the same freedom and assurance of 
not being misunderstood as if I were up to my 


ears in the moss of the pleasant plot here hard 


BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 219 


by Caius Cestius’ pyramid. Your quotations will 
not interfere with my own additions because 
they are purely additions, accretions, innestations, 
merely explanatory—I change nothing, but inter- 
polate; and those who don’t want more than 
they have already will be able to stick to that 
and welcome. It’s an odd thing that I have 
heard of more than one commentary on the poem 
—Mrs. Carlyle told me all about a young actress, 
some five or six years since, who had written 
such a thing. I shall be greatly interested to 
read yours, you know. 

All love to your brother. We hope to see 
you and get plenty of you ere very long. Munro 
will have mentioned us to you: he was made 
to give up his utmost news of you both, and 
Woolner, and Holman Hunt, and Madox Brown 


and the rest. ‘Truest thanks once more from 
Yours faithfully ever, 


Rozsert Brownina. 


P.S.—I shall hardly be able to tell Morris what 
I think and rethink of his admirable poems, the 
only new poems to my mind since there’s no 


telling when. I am indeed glad to hear that 


220 T. DIXON TO W. ROSSETTI 


Gabriel will soon publish those translations: I 


never saw one of them, less thanks to him. 


113. 
Tuomas Dixon fo Wuita11amM Rossertt. 


Mr. Dixon was a working cork-cutter in Sunder- 
land (he afterwards owned a business of that kind), 
who—without what one calls cultivation, or any 
marked talent of his own—had strong intellectual 
leanings, and a certain aplomb in pitching upon 
things that deserved examination. He used to see 
a good deal of Mr. Bell Scott in Newcastle; there 
he met my sister Maria and myself (not perhaps 
Dante or Christina Rossetti). In the present letter 
he speaks of poems by Christina; but the personal 
details which he brings in apply in reality to Maria, 
Dixon was the “ Working Man’ 


2 


to whom Ruskin 
addressed his letters published under the name of 
Time and Tide by Wear and Tyne. My brother, in 
one of his Family-letters (16 July 1880), has truly 
said of him, “I never knew of any one individual 
in any wall of life—even a much higher one than 
his—who was so entirely devoted to promoting 
intellectual good among those within his reach.” 
Without over-rating the actual contents of Dixon’s 
letters, I think a few extracts from them should 
appear in this collection, 


T. DIXON TO W. ROSSETTI 221 


189 HIGH STREET W., SUNDERLAND. 
10 January 1859. 
Dear Sir, 

I desired to read some of the Germ, 
and then tell you how much I liked them, or 
otherwise. In the first place then, I beg to offer 
you my hearty thanks for your precious New 
Year’s gift, for I can assure you they are so to 
me. . . . Why is it for these pictures and essays 
&c., being so realistic, yet produce on the mind 
such a vague and dreamy sensation, approaching 
as it were the Mystic Land of a Bygone Age? I 
know not if others be affected by them in the 
same way. ‘There is [in] them the life which I 
long for, and which to me never seems realizable 
in this life. I see it, and feel it, in the few essays 
and poems that I have read, and in the pictures 
of the new school, and in the everyday speaking 
and acting of the few representatives of its 
reality, in this life, that I have had the great 
honour and something more of knowing and 
hearing in my wanderings to and fro to W. B. 
Scott’s: to him I owe all these great blessings. 


. . . The pieces by your sister are just of that 


992 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


kind as I should expect; full of that quiet peace- 
ful piety and faith, such as I always remember 
in thinking over the few hours’ conversation I 
have had the pleasure of having in her presence. 
I see now as [ write this, in my mind’s eye, 
the quiet face, and hear the calm quiet voice 
—so full of the spirit that one finds in the 
simple though expressive old Fathers; a reflec- 
tion to me of a deep lover of Thomas a 
Kempis, and of one who had achieved that rare 
and arduous task in this life, the realization 
in actual life of the teachings of that beautiful 
DOOR: fnticys. 


Yours truly, 


TT. Drxon. 


114. 


Dante Rosserrt to Mapox Brown. 


“ Avuncularism”’ (as the experienced reader may 
comprehend) means “recourse to a pawnbroker” 
—popularly called “my uncle.” The two pen- 
and-ink drawings referred to are the Hamlet and 
Ophelia’ and Launcelot escaping from Guenevere’s 
Chamber. I cannot say what the “yellow lady” 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 223 


was. “Val” is Mr. Valentine Prinsep. I am not 
aware which was the head and landscape joined 
together. 


[CHATHAM PLACE. 
16 February 1859. | 


My Dear Brown, 

. . . Just now I have only been saved 
from further “avuncularism” by a visit of old 
Plint, who has bought two pen and ink drawings 
of Hamlet and Guenevere—one for 40 guineas, 
the other for 30: but the second is chiefly in 
exchange for a certain yellow lady which he 
wants to return—at least I think he will. I 
brought Val down, and he bought his Bridge 
picture (unseen) for £100. I think he is also 
sure to buy Stanhope’s, who is to write him 
what the price is. O wondrous Plint! Did 
you see that glorious stroke of business—the 
joining together of a head and a landscape into 
one great work here? Plint bites already, and 


will buy I suspect. 


Yours affectionately, 


DeGrh: 


224 W. ROSSETTI TO ALLINGHAM 


115. 
Wituam Rosserr to WittiAM ALLINGHAM. 


14 UPPER ALBANY STREET, LONDON, N.W. 
6 March [1859]. 


Dear ALLINGHAM, 

. . . It is you I have to thank for pro- 
curing me the honour of supervising the engrav- 
ing of Mrs. Browning’s photograph portrait for 
the forthcoming Aurora Leigh. I have had some 
very welcome pleasant Browningian letters on 
the subject. The portrait came a long while 
ago, and I put it into the hands of Barlow who 
engraved Millais’s Huguenot. 'The day before 
yesterday the proof-engraving reached me, and 
I can see that my office of reviser won't prove 
a sinecure: I only hope the final result will 
satisfy, or come near to satisfying, Browning. 
(Please to keep this close, as any rumours that 
the engraving, in its present stage, is not quite 
the thing, reaching Browning’s ears, might create 
a panic.) But, between you and me, the photo- 
graph itself is far from right (I fancy you saw 
it): Mrs. Browning looks as if she was hiding 
behind her long pretty black locks, like a King 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 225 


Charles’s spaniel behind its hanging ears, and 
peering out with something between shame- 
facedness and a leer. In point of likeness, a 
good deal is right, but difficult to be translated 


in engraving without personal acquaintance. . . . 
Yours always truly, 


W. M. Rosser tt. 


116. 
Joun Ruskin to Dante Rossetrt. 


“ The picture’’ may I suppose be the St. Catharine. 
I cannot speak with any definiteness as to the 
“lady in blue.” 


[DENMARK HILt. 


? 1859.] 
Dear R., 


You shall have the picture again im- 
mediately. I have never scrubbed it—more by 
token it has never once been out of the frame 
since I had it. It has the most curious look of 
having been rubbed—but it is impossible unless 
it was taken out of frame by you. But this is 
not the only case of failure of colour from your 


careless way of using colours. My pet lady in 
P 


2296 BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 


blue is all gone to nothing, the green having 
evaporated or sunk into the dress—I send her 
back for you to look at—and I think the scarlet 
has faded on the shoe. You must really alter 
your way of working, and mind what you are 
about. 


Always affectionately yours, 


J. RusKIN. 


ere 
Rozserr Brownine to W. M. Rosserrt. 


RoME, Via Bocca DI LEONE 43. 
2 April 1859. 
My Dear Rossetti, 


I have only a minute or two to say a 
word in—but your old kindness will understand. 
I hear that the engraving is too likely to be a 
failure, despite your best pains: I suppose it is 
hard to transfer photographs. But the case being 
so, the only thing will be to suppress the plate 
at once—because our only object in letting it 
be published would be to get done with the 
prints in London and America by putting a real 
likeness forward. You know that I know your 


own trouble in the business has been great, and 


BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 227 


your goodness perfect. But we all fail some- 
times, engravers and poets alike, and if Mr. 
Barlow will not break his heart about it, no 
more will 


Yours most truly and gratefully, 


Rovert Browninac. 


I write in all this hurry to save the Saturday’s 
post: pray write a word and say you understand, 
though I am sure you do. Of course, it is still 
possible that through correcting the print may 
even yet prove satisfactory: I only express my 
first fears. My wife’s truest thanks and regards 


go with mine. 


118. 
Rozsertr Brownie to Wirti1aAmM Rossettt. 


The revolution in Tuscany, here eulogized, is that 
which finally got rid of the Grand Ducal govern- 
ment. When war was imminent between Sardinia 
and France on the one side, and Austria on the 
other, Leopold II. saw that there was nothing for 
him to do but to abdicate and depart—which he 
did—thus leaving Tuscany open for forming an 
integral part in the kingdom of Italy. 


298 BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 


‘ RoME, Bocca pi LEONE 43. 
10 May 1859. 
My Dear Rossertt, 

Our last notes crossed, did they not? 
I am very glad to get the revise and see for 
myself. ‘Things prove not so bad as I feared— 
far from it: certainly I accept this gladly as 
the best obtainable under the difficult cireum- 
stances. Of course photographs in general, and 
those “ambrotypes” especially, must be hard 
to reproduce: and then the subject of the print 
is away. I daresay we expected too much: pray 
thank the engraver very truly from me, and 
explain that I am quite aware of his ability 
when there is a proper field for the exercise of it 
—having seen his admirable engraving of Millais’ 
picture. So the end is, I write by this post to 
Chapman bidding him publish as soon as he 
likes. Now, truest thanks to you and to your 
brother who have been so entirely good to us— 
thank also, and warmly, Woolner and the other 
friends who have interested themselves in the 
matter. We shall not see you all this summer, 
I fear: but don’t doubt we mean to return some 


day, if only for that. Is not this a perfectly 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 229 


[admirable ?] performance, this our revolution in 
Tuscany? ‘The order, moderation, ingenuity of 
the people is without example. I write in utmost 
haste to save the safe direct conveyance, but am 
ever yours, dear Rossetti, gratefully, 


Rosert Browninac. 


The extreme angle of the nose might be 
blunted with advantage. ‘They might also open 
the eyes a little more; so small in_ propor- 
tion even in the photograph, and here pig-like. 
The mistake seems there. Something might be 
obtained by giving a lash and shade to the 


under-lid. 
rios 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosserrt. 


The poems here referred to do not appear to have 
included any of Rossetti’s original work: they were 
the translations from the Italian. The pamphlet 
spoken of in the P.S. must have been the new 
issue of Ruskin’s Notes on the Academy and other 
Exhibitions, 

17 June [1859]. 

Dear Rosser, 

You must have wondered at my never 


speaking of the poems in any of my letters—but 


230 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


I was for a long time when I first left London 
too ill to examine them properly. 

You have had an excellent critic in Allingham 
—as far as I can judge. I mean—that I would 
hardly desire for myself, in looking over the 
poems, to do more than ink all his pencil. But 
—as a reader or taster for the public—I should 
wish to find more fault than he has done, and 
to plead with you in all cases for entire clearness 
of modern and unantiquated expression. 

As a mass, the poems are too much of the 
same colour. I think a considerable number of 
the love poems should be omitted, as, virtually, 
they repeat each other to a tiresome extent. 
The dialogue with Death which is the finest of 
all should be finished up to the highest point 
of English perfectness; so also the war sonnets 
about Pisa and the wolves and so on—and if 
possible more of this general character should be 
found, and added to the series. Great pains 
should be taken to get the two dispatches of 
ballads right; they are both exquisitely beau- 
tiful. You must work on these at your leisure. 
I think the book will be an interesting and 


popular one, if you will rid it from crudities. 


SIR J. MILLAIS TO W. ROSSETTI 231 


I am very glad to find you can stick up for 
your work, as well as burn it. We will say no 
more about the drawing until you see it again. 
I am beginning to have a very strong notion 
that you burn all your best things and keep the 
worst ones. Virgil would have done so, if he 


could ;—and numbers of great men more. 


Ever affectionately yours, 
J. R. 

Kind regards to your brother. 

There was nothing noticed in the pamphlet 
that was out of my way. My business is to know 
all sorts of good—small and great, no matter how 
small—and to attack all sorts of bad, no matter 
how great. I am going to run full butt at 
Raphael this next time. 


120. 
Sir Jonn Miiuais to WiiuiaAmM Rossetti. 


In consequence of this friendly letter my sister 
offered to Once a Week a poem, Maude Clare. It was 
inserted, with an illustration by Millais—I can but 
think, one of his worst woodblock-designs. I do not 
recollect that anything by John Tupper appeared in 


232 SIR J. MILLAIS TO W. ROSSETTI 


the magazine: nothing of mine did, nor do I now 
remember that I either offered, or had intended to 
offer, any contribution. 


SOUTH COTTAGE, 
KINGSTON-ON-THAMES, 


13 July 1859. 

Dear Rossetti, 

In answer to your letters I shall be most 
happy to do anything I can to forward your 
wishes. 

Lucas is the editor of Once a Week, and all 
letters sent to him at the office will I suppose 
meet with his attention. But anything from 
either yourself, Sister, or Tupper, I will send 
myself, if you think it would be better. Some 
poem of your Sister’s I am sure would be gladly 
received, and I could illustrate it. However, 
send and I will forward to Lucas. The fact is, 
as you may imagine, I cannot give much time 
to the publication, and have no word whatsoever 
in the business of it. . . . If you will send any 
short poem immediately, I would make a design 


for it and give it them, or if you would 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 233 


prefer it I would send the poem to them before- 
Partch." 


Ever yours sincerely, 


JoHN Everett Miuats. 


I feel certain they would be glad to get some 


of your Sister’s BOGIDS Mi iret) 


121. 
JoHN Ruskin to Danre Rossertt. 


The observations which Mr. Ruskin makes on 
Rossettis poem of Jenny are interesting: but it 
appears to me that he had misapprehended the 
relation—the merely casual and extempore rela- 
tion—which the poem intends to represent be- 
tween the male speaker and Jenny. The line 
“There is not any difference” was line two in the 
poem of The Portrait as it originally stood. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
? 1859.] 
Dear RosseErtt, 
I have read Jenny, and nearly all the 
other poems, with great care and with great 


admiration. In many of the highest qualities 


234 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


they are entirely great. But I should be sorry 
if you laid them before the public entirely in 
their present state. 

I do not think Jenny would be understood 
but by few, and even of those few the majority 
would be offended by the mode of treatment. 
The character of the speaker himself is too 
doubtful. He seems, even to me, anomalous. 
He reasons and feels entirely like a wise and just 
man—yet is occasionally drunk and brutal: no 
affection for the girl shows itself—his throwing 
the money into her hair is disorderly—he is 
altogether a disorderly person. The right feel- 
ing is unnatural in him, and does not therefore 
truly touch us. I don’t mean that an entirely 
right-minded person never keeps a mistress: but, 
if he does, he either loves her—or, not loving 
her, would blame himself, and be horror-struck 
for himself no less than for her, in such a 
moralizing fit. 

My chief reason for not sending it to Thackeray 
is this discordance and too great boldness for 
common readers. But also in many of its verses 
it is unmelodious and incomplete. ‘“ Fail” does 


not rhyme to “ Belle,” nor “ Jenny ” to “ guinea.” 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 235 


You can write perfect verses if you choose, and 
should never write imperfect ones. 

None of these objections apply to the Nocturn. 
If you will allow me to copy and send that instead 
of the Jenny, I will do it instantly. Many 
pieces in it are magnificent,—and there is hardly 
one harsh line. 

Write me word about this quickly. And could 
you and William dine with us on Wednesday— 
to-morrow week? I hope to see you before that 
however. 

Ever affectionately yours, 


J. RusKIN. 


Or I will take The Portrait if you like it 
better. Only you must retouch the two first 
stanzas. The “there is not any difference” 


won’t do. 


a 
122. 


JoHN Ruskin to Dante RosskttT1. 


Miss Herbert (whose name off the stage was 
Mrs. Crabb) was an actress whose beauty was much 
admired by Rossetti. The picture into which Ruskin 
expected her face to be painted was The Seed of 
David, I consider. Indeed it seems to me that 


236 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


my brother did in the first instance paint the head 
there of the Madonna from Miss Herbert, but he 
afterwards substituted the head of Mrs. William 


Morris. 
[DENMARK HILL. 


? 1859.] 
Dear RosseErti, 


I am unfortunately hindered from com- 
ing to-morrow—but hope to be with you on 
Wednesday at 3. I won't say “I hope Miss 
Herbert isn’t coming to-morrow,” for I want 
you to get her beautiful face into your picture 
as soon as possible—but I hope it will take you 
a long time, and that I shall be able to come 


next time. 
Ever affectionately yours, 


J.R. 


Keep my letter if you’ve got one, till I come. 


128. 
Dante Rossetrri1 to Mapox Brown. 


12 EAST PARADE, HASTINGS. 
22 April 1860. 
My Dear Brown, 


... 1 have been, almost without re- 


spite, since I saw you, in the most agonizing 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN = 237 


anxiety about poor dear Lizzie’s health. Indeed 
it has been that kind of pain which one can 
never remember at its full, as she has seemed 
ready to die daily and more than once a day. 
It has needed all my own strength to nurse her 
through this dreadful attack. Since yesterday 
there has certainly been a reaction for the better. 
She has been able to get up and come down 
stairs, and eats just now—though not much— 
without bringing up her food—which she has 
done till now, generally a few minutes after 
swallowing it. At the same time, this improve- 
ment is so sudden and unaccountable that one 
fears to put full trust in it, but can only hope 
and wait. At any rate, it makes me feel as if 
I had been dug out of a vault, so many times 
lately has it seemed to me that she could never 
lift her head again. I write you this, but there 
is no need of repeating it at full, as it is such 
dreadful news at this moment. Emma made a 
kind offer of coming here when [I last saw her, 
but Lizzy I find prefers being alone with me, 
and indeed it would be too painful for any one 
to witness. I assure you it has been almost 


too much for me. 


238 ALLINGHAM TO W. ROSSETTI 


I may possibly be in London for a few hours 
to-morrow or next day, but hardly long enough 
to see any friends, and of course I shall not 
come away at all unless she seems safe for a 
time. I had wished to snatch a few days’ work 
in London before our marriage, but this seems 
daily more impossible—indeed it hardly seems 


as if I should ever work again. 
Yours affectionately, 


D. G. Rosset. 


124, 


Winwiam ALuINcHAM fo Witi1Am Rosser. 


LANE, BALLYSHANNON. 
22 May 1860. 


Dear WIA, 

. . . Perhaps this extract from a note 
of Miss Browning’s, dated Paris, April 19, may 
have novelty for you: “I had letters from our 
Florentines a day or two ago. My sister’s health 
is improving, a few fine warm days having re- 


vived her, but still she is far below her average 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 239 


strength. Robert fears that any journey north 
this summer would be absolutely impossible. 
She can bear no fatigue or excitement, and 
they purpose remaining two months longer in 
Rome; then returning to Florence to look a 
little after household matters (Robert’s man of 
business there, a banker whom he valued, being 
dead), taking refuge when driven out by the 
heat in the nearest cool place, and probably 
again wintering in Rome: after which, if God 
grant life and strength, a long visit to Paris 
and England.” .. . 
Yours, dear William, 
Very truly, 


W. ALLINGHAM. 


125. 
Dante Rossetti to Mapox Brown. 


“Ned and Georgie” are Sir Edward Burne-Jones 
and his then bride (Miss Georgiana Macdonald). 
By “the Towers of Topsy,” the house which Mr. 
Morris was then getting built at Upton (not far 
from Woolwich) is meant. 


240 A POEM 


[ HASTINGS. 
23 May 1860. | 
Drar Brown, 


All hail from Lizzie and myself just 
back from church. I am sorry I cannot give 
you any good news of her health, but we must 
hope for the best. We go to Folkestone this 
afternoon if possible with a view to spending 
a week or so in Paris, and, if we stay long 
enough there, I hope Ned and Georgie will 


JOT Hush Wort 
Yours affectionately, 


D. G. RosseEttTI1. 


If you are still with Top, as Ned told me you 
were, best love to the Topsies. The ‘Towers of 


Topsy must darken the air by this. 


126. 
Lizziz Rosserrr—A Porm. 


I have separated this poem from others written 
before Mrs. Dante Rossetti’s marriage, because I 
find her MS. of it (rather roughly done) upon paper 
bearing the stamped initials E.E.R. It is of course 
possible that the poem had been written before her 
marriage, and copied out afterwards; but I have no 
particular reason for thinking this. 


cL. COME 


aL 


CLOTLES-L’. 


L 


ORM “ip 


= 
2, 


We 


/ 
wt 


NN 
Mi 
N 

CRS 
~ 
S 
Y 

y 
S 
Sj 
N 
i 
aS 
oe 

~ 
5 


PY PLCTUSSAON 


? 


Ys 








A POEM 24] 


AT LAST 


O mother, open the window wide 
And let the daylight in ; 

The hills grow darker to my sight, 
And thoughts begin to swim. 


And, mother dear, take my young son 
(Since I was born of thee), 

And care for all his little ways, 
And nurse him on thy knee. 


And, mother, wash my pale, pale hands, 
And then bind up my feet ; 
My body may no longer rest 


Out of its winding-sheet. 


And, mother dear, take a sapling twig 
And green grass newly mown, 
And lay them on my empty bed, 


That my sorrow be not known. 


And, mother, find three berries red 
And pluck them from the stalk, 
And burn them at the first cockcrow, 


That my spirit may not walk. 
Q 


242 LIZZIE ROSSETTI TO ROSSETTI 


And, mother dear, break a willow wand, 
And if the sap be even, 
Then save it for my lover’s sake, 


And he'll know my soul’s in heaven. 


And, mother, when the big tears fall 
(And fall, God knows, they may), 

Tell him I died of my great love, 
And my dying heart was gay. 


And, mother dear, when the sun has set, 
And the pale church grass waves, 
Then carry me through the dim twilight 


And hide me among the graves. 


127. 
LizziE Rossetrri fo Dante Rossetrt. 


This letter is not of any marked interest; but 
it is the only one I possess written by Lizzie after 
her marriage, so I insert it. The reader will 
observe that she addresses her husband as “Gug”’ 
(probably transmuted out of “ Gabriel’): this may 
perhaps be the origin of the pet-name Guggum 
or Guggums which he in turn applied to her. 


LIZZIE ROSSETTI TO ROSSETTI 245 


Lyddy was a sister of hers. My brother and his 
wife, for some little while after marriage, occupied 
lodgings at Hampstead, as well as the Chambers 
at Chatham Place; and they wished to get a small 
house at Hampstead, but in this they did not 
succeed. The Marshall here named must I think 
be a certain wealthy picture-buyer, of Leeds and 
Cumberland. The picture which was to “go away 
somewhere” seems to me to have been the por- 
trait of Lizzie named Regina Cordium. Mr. Ruskin 
possessed it at one time; but its first purchaser 
may have been Mr. John Miller of Liverpool. I 
presume that my brother was apt to “worry him- 
self about it,” on the ground that he would much 
rather have kept it for himself than have sold it 
to any one. 


BRIGHTON. 
1860 [? September’. 


My Dear Gue, 

I am most sorry to have worried you 
about coming back when you have so many 
things to upset you. I shall therefore say no 
more about it. 

I seem to have gained flesh within the last 
ten days, and seem also much better in some 
respects, although I am in constant pain and 
cannot sleep at nights for fear of another ill- 


ness like the last. But do not feel anxious about 


244 LIZZIE ROSSETTI TO ROSSETTI 


it as I would not fail to let you know in time, 
and perhaps after all I am better here with 
Lyddy than quite alone at Hampstead. I really 
do not know what to advise about the little 
house in the lane. If you were to take it, you 
might still retain your rooms at Chatham Place, 
which I think would be the best thing to do 
until better times. However I do not see how 
the £30 are to be paid just at this time, so I 
suppose that will settle the matter. I am glad 
you have written to Marshall, but fear there is 
no chance of his being in town at this time of 
the year. 

I should like to have my water-colours sent 
down if possible, as I am quite destitute of all 
means of keeping myself alive. I have kept 
myself alive hitherto by going out to sea in the 
smallest boat I can find. What do you say to 
my not being sick in the very roughest weather ? 
I should like to see your picture when finished, 
but I suppose it will go away somewhere this 
week. Let me know its fate as soon as it is 
sealed, and pray do not worry yourself about it 
as there is no real cause for doing so. 


I can do without money till next Thursday, 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 245 


after which time £3 a week would be quite 
enough for all our wants—#including rent of 


course. 
Your affectionate “ 


Lizzie. 
128. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante RosseEttt. 


DENMARK HIL1, 
4 September [1860], 
Dear Rossertt, 


This is the first letter I have written 
since my return. I specially wished to congra- 
tulate you and Ida by word of mouth rather 
than by letter: but I could not get your 
address at Chatham Place yesterday. Please let 
me come and see you as soon as you can, and 
believe in my sincere affection and most earnest 
good wishes for you both. 

Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


I am trying to get into a methodical way of 
writing letters; but, when I had written this, 
it looked so very methodical that I must put 


on a disorderly postscript. 


246 BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 


he I looked over all the book of sketches at 
Chatham Place yesterday. I think Ida should 
be very happy to see how much more beauti- 
fully, perfectly, and tenderly you draw when 
you are drawing her than when you draw any- 
body else. She cures you of all your worst 
faults when you only look at her. 


129. 


Rozsert Brownine to Witi1am Rossetti, 
Florence. 


This was written during my first visit to Italy, in 
the company of Mr. (now Judge) Vernon Lush- 
ington. We soon afterwards visited Siena and 
Marciano; passed an afternoon and evening, and 
the following morning, with Mr. and Mrs. Browning 
at their villa; slept at the closely-neighbouring 
villa of Mr. Story, the American sculptor, and his 
family; and were introduced to Walter Savage 
Landor. A little expedition not easily to be for- 
gotten. Mr. Seymour Kirkup (in strictness, now 
or soon afterwards the Barone Kirkup) was the 
English artist, long settled in Florence, who towards 
1839 had had the singular good fortune of bring- 
ing to light from under whitewash the portrait 
of the youthful Dante, painted by Giotto in the 
Bargello of Florence. This portrait was soon 


BROWNING TO W. ROSSETTI 247 


afterwards miserably mauled by a restorer, and is 
now (I saw it again in 1897) a sad wreck. Mr. 
Kirkup was a diligent correspondent of my father’s, 
and a fervid believer in his scheme of Dantesque 
interpretation. b 


SIENA: VILLA ALBERTI, MARCIANO. 
22 September [1860]. 


My Dear Rossertt, 

Nothing will give my wife or myself 
more pleasure than to see you and Mr. Lush- 
ington. Do take our best thanks for caring to 
come and see us. I am vexed to be away from 
Florence just when you visit it for the first 
time, but Siena is full of good things which 
you ought not to lose. We are about a mile 
and a half from the railway station. You must 
let me know when you mean to arrive and by 
what train. We will have a pleasant talk about 
friends. 


Ever yours faithfully, 


Rozserr Brownie. 


Go and see Mr. Kirkup in Florence (at the 
foot of the Old Bridge). He remembers and 
appreciates your father, and is one of the kindest 


and learnedest of men. 


248 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


130. 


Dante Rosserri1 to Mapox Brown. 


I do not know which is “the head” for which 
Mr. Gambart offered £50: possibly Burd-alane. The 
one belonging to and now borrowed from Mr. Boyce 
must have been Bocca Baciata. ‘ Gillum’s water- 
colour’’ appears to have been intended as one in 
a “Dante series’: I question whether my brother 
ever did paint a Dante series for this gentleman. It 
seems that Colonel Gillum was now paying Rossetti 
a regular sum per quarter, as advance-money upon 
work in hand. 

[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
28 September 1860. ] 

My Dear Brown, 


Ist, Gambart offers 50 guineas 
for the head and won’t give more, but says he 
would willingly have given my own price for 
Boyce’s which every one prefers—so I had better 
not have borrowed it. However he says I should 
paint him another—for better wages, as I under- 
stood him. I then wrote to old Marshall, who 
no doubt is away as I have had no answer yet. 
So I believe in another day or so I shall have 
arrived at the due pitch of starvation to accept 


G[ambart|’s terms. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 249 


This being thus, I don’t see how I can possibly 
paint Gillum’s water-colour just now without 
downright ruination. Nevertheless I must do 
so, unless a plan will do about which I wanted 
your advice. It is this. I have nearly finished 
Cassandra pen-and-ink, at least with hard work 
might get it done within a day or two after 
the end of this month which is Gillum’s quarter- 
day for my work. Now one of his commissions 
is for a £50 pen-and-ink (Hamlet). Do you 
not think I might propose a substitution of 
Cassandra for this, as ready for delivery (I 
remember he seemed taken with it) and defer 
beginning the Dante series till next term? I 
really do not like infringing Gillum’s compact, 
nor strictly speaking ought I to sell this drawing 
for £50. Or mightn’t I ask him an additional 
£10? It is well worth that over the Hamlet. 
But I dare say I could not get more, and it 
would probably save me money in reality at this 
moment, as it would enable me to devote a little 


clear time to poor dear Plint. . . . 
Your affectionate 
DesG.., tes 


250 W. STORY TO W. ROSSETTI 


131. 
Wituram Story to Wiiitam Rossetti. 


Mr. Story, it will be seen, was now writing some- 
thing concerning the superstition of the Evil Eye. 
He had asked me to elucidate for him some point 
affecting the Mithraic worship, and I remember 
visiting the British Museum on this quest. The 
remarks about Viterbo &c. apply to the manceuvres, 
generally considered rather suspicious, of Napoleon 
III., through his troops in Italy. 


FLORENCE, 
28 October 1860. 
Dear Mr. Rossertt, 


Just as I was in the act of enclosing a 
manuscript paper on the Evil Eye to America 
for publication your letter was placed in my 
hands, but it was in time to enable me to make 
a note of the papers which you with so much 
kindness had taken the trouble to make an 
abstract of for me... . 

The Brownings are still in Florence, but they 
will soon leave for Rome. We are all lingering 
here to enjoy the delightful weather, rather than 
from any fear as to the safety of Rome. So 


long as the French remain there, no possible 


W. STORY TO W. ROSSETTI 251 


danger, as it seems to me, is to be apprehended. 
The retaking of Viterbo and Velletri created 
here a very unfavourable impression, but the 
subsequent occupation of Montefiascone and 
Acquapendente has even a worse aspect. Mrs. 
Browning says it is only “strategic”—if you 
know what that means; J don’t. Either the 
Piedmontese should never have been allowed to 
take possession of these places, or they should 
have been allowed to retain them. As it is, 
the re-establishment of the papal rule there 
has fearfully compromised all the citizens who 
favoured the Piedmontese, and has struck at 
least a temporary blow (let us hope it is only 
temporary) at the principle of popular rights. 
Whether Louis Napoleon means well by Italy 
or not, the course he pursues is to say the least 
utterly without frankness and directness. How- 
ever, I do not fear for Italy: the current of 
events is too strong for Louis Napoleon, and 
whatever may be his secret wishes he will be 
compelled in the end to yield. 

The result at Naples of the vote was very 
satisfactory, but I fear that the people there are 


in a sad state of disorganization, and that the 


252 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


task will not be easy to consolidate and orga- 
nize. ‘The Mazzinians have done great mischief, 
and it will require time to efface all their traces. 

I have little fear of Austria. If she attacks, 
she must meet both France and Italy, and they 
are too strong for her. If she waits, Italy with 
22 millions once consolidated will be able to 
snap her fingers at the Germans, without French 
assets 

I gave your message to Browning: he was 
very glad to hear from you, and will write soon 
to you and to Mr. Madox Brown. We were all 
exceedingly interested by the photographs from 
Mr. Brown’s and your brother’s pictures. . . . 


Very truly yours, 
W. W. Srory. 


132. 
Joun Ruskin to D. G. Rosserrt. 


[DENMARK HILL, 
? 1860]. 
Dear RossErtt, 


Thank you for your kind letter :—I 
. quite understand your ways and way of 


PACU, pois 


j 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 253 


But what I do feel generally about you is 
that without intending it you are in little things 
habitually selfish—thinking only of what you 
like to do, or don’t like: not of what would 
be kind. Where your affections are strongly 
touched I suppose this would not be so—but it 
is not possible you should care much for me, 
seeing me so seldom. I wish Lizzie and you 
liked me enough to—say-——put on a dressing- 
gown and run in for a minute rather than not 
see me; or paint on a picture in an unsightly 
state, rather than not amuse me when I was 
ill. But you can’t make yourselves like me, and 
you would only like me less if you tried. As 
long as I live in the way I do here, you can’t 
of course know me rightly. 

I am relieved this morning from the main 
trouble I was in yesterday; and am ever aflec- 
tionately yours, 

J. Ruskin. 

Love to Lizzie. 

I am afraid this note reads sulky—it is not 
that: I am generally depressed. Perhaps you 
both like me better than I suppose you do. I 


mean only, I did not misinterpret or take ill 


254 BROWNING TO MADOX BROWN 


anything yesterday: but I have no power in 
general of believing much in people’s caring 
for me. I’ve a little more faith in Lizzie than 
in you—because, though she don’t see me, her 
bride’s kiss was so full and queenly-kind: but 
I fancy I gall you by my want of sympathy in 
many things, and so lose hold of you. 


1383. 
Rozert Brownine fo Mapox Brown. 


The photograph sent by Brown might seem to be 
his own portrait taken from life: but I consider 
that in reality it was a photograph from Brown’s 
Last of England, in which the principal head is in 
fact Brown himself, and a very accurate likeness. 


FLORENCE. 
1 November 1860. 
My Dear Brown, 


Thank you most heartily for your 
photograph—how good of you to remember me 
and give me such a precious proof of your 
remembrance! I see you have worked at what 
I consider an original performance, so much of 


your own hand do I fancy that I find in it. 


MISS STORY TO W. ROSSETTI 255 


Only one thing is wanting, and one I am going 
to supply—a glass in front: I shall then hang 
it where I can see it and think of you and the 
fine pictures you have made and will make, I 
hope. ‘Take my wife’s true thanks along with 
mine (we shall both of us see you next year 


probably), and continue to keep me in mind as 
Gratefully and faithfully yours, 


Rosert Brownine. 


134. 
Miss Story to Wiui11amM Rosserrt. 


PALAZZO BARBERINI, ROME. 
8 December 1860. 


My Dear Mr. Rosser, 

. . On our arrival we found Rome 
quiet as ever, but the streets seemed quite 
empty. . . . One meets nothing but priests and 
soldiers in the streets now, and certainly the 
French do not add to the pleasantness of our 
winter. Instead of Victor Emanuel at the Qui- 
rinal Palace we have the ex-Queen of Naples and 
her suite. Every day we wait anxiously to hear 


of Gaeta’s being taken, for, when it is, a change 


256 MISS STORY TO W. ROSSETTI 


is expected to take place here: but I fear as long 
as the French remain there is no hope, and by 
their preparations I should think they intended 
remaining here for ever. The Pope does not 
seem to have suffered much in consequence of 
losing the Marches and Umbria, for he con- 
tinues fat as ever, and walks about in his white 
dress. Antonelli looks however anxious and 
cross, and the people are more and more anxious 
to throw off their yoke of oppression in measure 
as they see and hear of the happiness in the 
rest of Italy. 

The dear Brownings came to Rome soon after 
we did, and are now comfortably settled in 
pleasant sunny apartments very near us. Mrs. 
Browning has been quite ill since she has heard 
of the death of her sister; she is however slowly 
recovering the heavy blow, and I think this 
warm Scirocco weather does her a great deal 
of good. Mr. Browning is the same dear genial 


friend ; we see him almost every evening. . . . 
Yours most truly, 


EpirH Marion Srory. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 257 


135. 
Dante Rossetti fo Mapox Brown. 


I should like to know—but don’t—which is the 
half-hour sketch that sold for £25. The phrase 
“ Your Thomas is sublime ”’ must point to that habit 
(mentioned by Bell Scott and others), which pre- 
vailed for some years in my brother's circle, of 
composing “nonsense-verse ” epigrams on friends, 
acquaintances, and enemies. Brown had evidently 
taken Mr, Cave Thomas as the subject of one 
such performance. It would not have been an ill- 
natured one, for Brown was, to the very close of 
his life, on terms of intimate companionship with 
Mr. Thomas. 


12 January 1861. 


Dear Brown, 

... Yesterday I sold for £25 a coloured 
sketch which had taken me about half-an-hour— 
that paid. 

Your Thomas is sublime, and I wait for the 


other with anxiety. I have several new ones... . 


Your affectionate 


D. G. R. 


R 


258 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


136. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante RossEtrt. 


This letter relates to MS. poems by Christina 
Rossetti which Dante Gabriel had left with Ruskin, 
with a view to his facilitating some move for publi- 
cation. The set of poems probably comprised many 
of those which were published by Messrs. Macmillan 
in 1862 in the Goblin-Market volume, and which 
immediately commanded a large measure of general 
attention, for which Mr. Ruskin was apparently not 
quite prepared. Indeed, almost simultaneously with 
the date of this letter, one of Christina’s poems, Up- 
Hill, came out in Macmillan’s Magazine for February 
1861, and by no means passed unobserved. 


[DENMARK HILL. 
Towards 20 Fanuary 1861.] 


Dear RosseErri, 

I sate up till late last night reading 
poems. They are full of beauty and _ power. 
But no publisher—I am deeply grieved to know 
this—would take them, so full are they of quaint- 
nesses and offences. Irregular measure (intro- 
duced to my great regret, in its chief wilfulness, 
by Coleridge) is the calamity of modern poetry. 
The Iliad, the Divina Commedia, the A’neid, the 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 259 


whole of Spenser, Milton, Keats, are written with- 
out taking a single license or violating the com- 
mon ear for metre; your sister should exercise 
herself in the severest commonplace of metre 
until she can write as the public like. Then if 
she puts in her observation and passion all will 
become precious. But she must have the Form 


first. All love to you and reverent love to Ida. 
Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


137. 
Dante Rosserti to Mapox Brown. 


N. is a fancy-initial. “The show” was a collec- 
tion of pictures &c. at the Hogarth Club. 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 


26 January 1861.] 
My Dear Brown, 


I have just heard say that you propose 
excluding one of N.’s drawings from the show. 
May I, though not on committee, venture a word 
of remonstrance ? His things are both very small 
and very harmless, he is neither a young nor 


successful man, he deserves consideration (I think) 


260 W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 


on other as well as these grounds, and I fear it 
might hurt his feelings very much. I would not 
plead for the drawing, were it more prominent, as 
of course you do not under-rate it in my opinion 
more than in your own. But, if nothing has been 
done in the matter hitherto, might I beg you 
would reconsider the matter, as knowing N.’s 


position and probable feelings better than you can. 


Yours affectionately, 
D. G. R. 


138. 
W. B. Scorr to Witttam Rosser tt. 


This suggestion about the British Institution looks 
in retrospect as if it were by no means a bad one. 


Nothing came of it. 
NEWCASTLE. 
2 March 1861. 
Dearest W., 


I send you a copy of the Half-hour 

Lectures with sincere thanks for your assistance in 

freeing it from a countless lot of errors. .. . 

What the book would have been without your 
assistance it is frightful to think. .. . 

Here is a speculation I have thought of 

writing to you regarding for a few days back. 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 261 


Think of it well. The British Institution was 
established in 1805 by “ voluntary subscription,” 
and their present premises bought (the Shake- 
spear Gallery) for £4500, at a ground-rent of 
£120 per annum, and a lease of sixty-two years. 
At that time it was thought artists could not 
manage their own affairs, and with reason, seeing 
they had absolutely no practice, and little chance 
of support. The life governors and directors 
have of late years been very indifferent to the 
affairs of the Exhibition, and the lease expires in 
six years. Something must succeed—a renewal 
of the lease and a reconstitution of the body, 
or a resignation into new hands under new 
conditions. 

Now suppose the Hogarth as a body were to 
negotiate for the management, and to constitute 
themselves an exhibiting body under certain 
responsibilities satisfactory to the present pro- 
prietary ; it appears to me reasonably likely we 
might get a transfer of the Institution, and 
become a power. Ruskin would have great 
influence, Hunt too: Gabriel and _half-a-dozen 
or so are good names, and if we all put out 


our whole force and were not squeezed dry by 


262 NOTES BY W. ROSSETTI 


reserving for the Academy, we would really do 
some considerable and permanent good. Think 
over all this, and have a consultation. . 

Yours ever, 


W. B. Scort. 
139. 
Dante’s Beatrice—Notres sy Wuiiu1AmM Rossetti. 


These jottings were made by me many years ago, 
and happen to have escaped destruction. They 
were clearly made during a re-reading of the Vita 
Nuova ; apparently that re-reading which I under- 
took in January 1861, to accommodate my brother in 
putting his translation of the work to press. I have 
always been in a state of some mental suspense as to 
Beatrice ; seeing some strong reasons for assuming 
her to be a real woman, and other strong reasons for 
assuming her to be (as my father contended) a merely 
symbolic personage. My brother was entirely for 
the real woman, scouting and ignoring any argu- 
ments to the contrary. My ensuing notes are not of 
much consequence to anybody: but they are com- 
pendious in their way, and the result of a genuine 
attempt to arrive at an opinion, and so I give 
them. 

NATURAL SYMPTOMS. 


The incident of Dante’s looking at Beatrice past 
another lady, who thought he looked at her, and 
people talking of it. 


NOTES BY W. ROSSETTI 263 


His leaving the city to go towards the same 
place as this lady. 

On his feigning a passion for the second lady, 
many persons speak of the matter oltra li termini 
della cortesia—m infamava vizriosamente. 

The interview at the bridal feast in several 
minor circumstances. 

The death of Beatrice’s father, which is on the 
whole spoken of in natural terms. The usage of 
the city for men on such occasions to convene 
with men, and women with women. 

His bodily illness, and the lady at his bed- 
side. 

The general tone of the dream of Beatrice’s 
death is life-like. 

Writes a sonnet to let others know of Beatrice 
besides those che la poteano sensibilmente vedere. 

The drawing of the angel, &c., seems a natural 
fact, and more consistent with Beatrice’s being a 
real woman. 

The Donna Gentile looking from a window. 
But then this lady is Philosophy (Convito), so 
that, the more naturally she is spoken of, the 
more suspicion is thrown on any natural expres- 


sions about Beatrice. 


i 


264: NOTES BY W. ROSSETTI 


She has a pale complexion, which reminds him 
of Beatrice, who was also pale. 

Described as wna donna gentile, bella, giovane, 
€ SMU. 

Beatrice and her companions in heaven termed 
benedette anime, unintelligible by mortal mind (as 
said in second of Aristotle’s Metaphysics—the 


reference should be verified to see its effect). 


ALLEGORICAL SYMPTOMS. 


Beatrice first mentioned as la gloriosa donna 
della mia mente, la quale fu chiamata da molte 
Beatrice, 1 quali non sapeano che si chiamare. 

Her first being seen by Dante is spoken of as 
Vapparmmento soprascritto di questa gentilissema. 

He has seen her for nine years, often going 
for the purpose, before he hears her speak. 

Now calls her la donna della salute. 

The same night has the vision of Love with 
the heart. 

Love tanto si sforzava per suo INGEGNO that he 
made Beatrice eat the heart. 

Dante writes off to many of the most famous 
troubadours his sonnet upon the vision. 

On another occasion sedea in parte ove Sudiano 


> 7 
sree uy G1) TOT Li he Oo 


222) FD 


Db 








NOTES BY W. ROSSETTI 265 


parole della Regina della gloria—io vedea la ma 
beatitudine. 
La cittade ove la mia donna fu posta dal? 
altissimo Sire—first distinct mention of locality. 
As regards the dead lady-friend of Beatrice, 


about whom there seems no reason for mystery— 


Piu non vo’ discovrir qual donna sia, 
Che per le proprieta sue conosciute. 
Beatrice fu distruggitrice di tutti 2 vizt e regina 
delle virti. 
When expecting Beatrice’s salute, he had no 
enemy, and pardoned all who had offended him. 
Love saying in a dream Ego tamquam centrum 
crrculi, &c., and telling Dante not to sound its 
meaning. 
At the marriage feast Dante is seized with 
tremor even before he is aware of Beatrice’s 
presence : also Poggiat la mia persona stMULATA- 


MENTE ad una pintura. 


(Juando va per via, 
Gitta ne’ cuor villani Amore un gelo, 
Per che ogni lor pensiero agghiaccia e pere, 


with other scarcely natural-seeming expressions ; 
especially 


Non puo mal finir chi le ha parlato. 


266 NOTES BY W. ROSSETTI 


Canzone “ Donne che avete”—Temo @avere a 
troppt comunicato il suo mtendimento, &c. 

At the death of Beatrice, la sopradetta cittade 
rimase quasi dispoghata di ogni dignitade—where- 
upon Dante wrote az principi della terra alquanto 
della sua condizione, beginning Quomodo sedet. 

The pilgrims pass through the cittade a good 
deal more (at any rate) than a year after the 
death of Beatrice. Dante, however, is sure that 
if they came from near they would show sorrow 
for the dolorosa cittade on Beatrice’s account. 


Cuore means appetito ; anima means ragione. 


No. 9. 


Dante nearly nine when first he saw Beatrice. 

Beatrice entering upon her ninth year at the 
same time. 

An interval of nine years exactly before Beatrice 
speaks to and salutes Dante. 

This was at the ninth hour of the day. 

The hour of his vision of Love with the heart 
was the first of the nine last of the night. 

In his sirvent on the sixty ladies the name of 


Beatrice would only come ninth. 


NOTES BY W. ROSSETTI 267 


His dream of Love after denial of Beatrice’s 
salute is at the ninth hour of the day. 

On the ninth day of his illness has the dream 
of Beatrice’s death. 

No. 9 had molto luogo in her death. 

Was very amico to her. 

She died at the first hour of the ninth day of 
the month, or in the ninth month of Syria. 

And when the perfect No. had been nine times 
repeated in the thirteenth century (1290). 

Nine was so amico to her because at her beget- 
ting the nine heavens perfettissimamente s'aveano 
msieme. 

Beatrice was herself a nine by similitude, .e. 
3 (the Trinity) x3 (doing what the Trinity 
alone can do), viz. a miracle, viz. Beatrice, who 
thus=9. Some more ingenious person might 
find a more ingenious reason, but this is what 
Dante finds. 

About the ninth hour of day has a vision of 
Beatrice, which diverts him from the gentile 


donna. 


268 PROSPECTUS 


140. 


Morris, MarsHatt, Fautkner & Co.— 
PROSPECTUS. 


This must be the first—perhaps the only—pro- 
spectus issued by the now famous decorative firm 
which has for many years past borne the name of 
Morris & Company. It will be observed that Mr. 
Arthur Hughes figures among the “ Members of the 
Firm.” If he acted in that capacity at all, it can 
only have been for a very short time; for practical 
purposes the other seven members are alone to be 
taken into account. 


MORRIS, MARSHALL, FAULKNER & CO. 
Fine Art Workmen 


IN PAINTING, CARVING, FURNITURE, AND 
THE METALS, 


8 RED LION SQUARE, HOLBORN, W.C. 





Members of the Firm. 


F, MADOX BROWN. | P. PAUL MARSHALL. 
Cc. J. FAULKNER. W. MORRIS. 


ARTHUR HUGHES. D. G. ROSSETTI. 
E. BURNE JONES. PHILIP WEBB. 


Tue growth of Decorative Art in this Country, 
owing to the efforts of English Architects, has 


PROSPECTUS 269 


now reached a point at which it seems desirable 
that Artists of reputation should devote their 
time to it. Although no doubt particular in- 
stances of success may be cited, still it must be 
generally felt that attempts of this kind hitherto 
have been crude and fragmentary. Up to this 
time, the want of that artistic supervision which 
can alone bring about harmony between the 
various parts of a successful work has been in- 
creased by the necessarily excessive outlay con- 
sequent on taking one individual artist from his 
pictorial labours. 

The Artists whose names appear above hope 
by association to do away with this difficulty. 
Having among their number men of varied quali- 
fications, they will be able to undertake any 
species of decoration, mural or otherwise, from 
pictures, properly so called, down to the con- 
sideration of the smallest work susceptible of art 
beauty. It is anticipated that by such co-opera- 
tion the largest amount of what is essentially the 
artist’s work, along with his constant supervision, 
will be secured at the smallest possible expense, 
while the work done must necessarily be of a 


much more complete order than if any single 


270 PROSPECTUS 


artist were incidentally employed in the usual 
manner. 

These Artists, having for many years been 
deeply attached to the study of the Decorative 
Arts of all times and countries, have felt more 
than most people the want of some one place 
where they could either obtain or get produced 
work of a genuine and beautiful character. They 
have therefore now established themselves as a 
firm, for the production, by themselves and under 
their supervision, of — 

I. Mural Decoration, either in Pictures or in 
Pattern Work, or merely in the arrange- 
ment of Colours, as applied to dwelling- 
houses, churches, or public buildings. 

II. Carving generally, as applied to Archi- 
tecture. 

III. Stained Glass, especially with reference to 

its harmony with Mural Decoration. 
IV. Metal Work in all its branches, including 
Jewellery. 

V. Furniture, either depending for its beauty 
on its own design, on the application of 
materials hitherto overlooked, or on its 


conjunction with Figure and Pattern 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 271 


Painting. Under this head is included 
Embroidery of all kinds, Stamped 
Leather, and ornamental work in other 
such materials, besides every article 
necessary for domestic use. 

It is only requisite to state further that work 
of all the above classes will be estimated for, and 
executed in a business-like manner; and it is 
believed that good decoration, involving rather 
the luxury of taste than the luxury of costliness, 
will be found to be much less expensive than is 


generally supposed. 


141. 
W. B. Scorr fo Writu1am Rossetrt. 


The article in Fraser here mentioned was. on 
British Sculpture, its Position and Prospects. 


NEWCASTLE. 


21 April 1861. 
My Dear W., 


I have read your article in Fraser... . 
I only wish J had made some of your distinctions, 
especially the definition of the Christian ideal. I 


point out the early Italian purism as Christian 


272 W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 


ideal, but that is a limited and unsatisfactory 
one. ‘The only thing I don’t think quite the 
ticket in your paper is the exclusive eulogium 
of our friend Woolner. . . 

Did you attend the meeting of the Hogarth 
about making it an exhibiting body? Was my 
letter read? Stephens coolly sent me a printed 
circular afterwards wherein not a word was men- 
tioned about my letter. Whereupon I wrote 
him, and he replies that it was thought there 
was “plenty of time” to take my proposition 
into consideration. Is there? Not after the Club 
has committed itself by an Exhibition of an inde- 
pendent kind in which the members don’t act 
unanimously ; the measure being carried only by 
the casting-vote of the chairman. 

After sending my letter I thought of asking 
you to second the proposal therein contained, but 
was not sure you quite approved it. I am very 
sorry my letter has been so treated. I suppose 
the reason was that no one cared to undertake 
the negotiation or saw his way. Very likely; : 
but, suppose Ruskin had entered into the idea, he 
might have aided. 

Have you seen a pamphlet by Cave 'Thomas— 


RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 273 


Preraphaelitism Criticized by Christian Prin- 
ciples? It relates to the ethnological treatment 
of characters believed by the orthodox to have 
been divine or inspired. A good idea... . 

The circular “ Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, & 
Co.,” reached me yesterday. A very desirable 
thing Fine Art Workman, yet isn’t the list of 


partners a tremendous lark? ... 
Yours ever, 


W. B. Scorr. 


142. 
JoHN Ruskin to Dante Rosserrt. 


“The book” is The Early Itahan Poets, pub- 
lished in 1861, under an arrangement in which 
Mr. Ruskin had been helpful. “Those sonnets 
about the year”’ are the series written by Folgore 


da San Gemignano. 
[DENMARK HILL. 


1861—? Aay.] 
Dear (I had nearly written Bear) Rosserrrt, 
I'm so delighted with the book: I 
opened at those sonnets about the year, and 
have been rambling on all the forenoon. I’m so 


much obliged about the picture and will settle 
S 


274 W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 


about [it] directly, but you must really give 
me Norton’s to send to him. I['ll bring your 
sister’s poems to-morrow. 

Ever affectionately yours, 


J. Ruskin. 


Love to Ida. I like the “inscription” so 
much. 
143. 
W. B. Scorr to Writu1AmM RosseEtrt. 


The reference here to Shelley's Prometheus Un- 
bound reminds me of a sequence of dates &c. in- 
teresting to myself. First reading Shelley in the 
fifteenth year of my age, I had for some ensuing 
years been a most enthusiastic and persistent re- 
reader of his works; but for a long time preceding 
1860 I had not taken them up again to any 
extent. It was in 1860 (or 1861) that Mr. Scott 
presented to me, as a friendly gift, one of Mrs. 
Shelley’s compendious editions of the poems. I 
then gave them a diligent re-perusal, viewing them 
with less immature eyes than of old, and finding 
in them much that I had partially forgotten, and 
making many pencil notes in the volume; and 
(as it here appears) I must have written to Mr. 
Scott about the Prometheus. In 1868 there was 
some correspondence in Notes and Queries about 
Shelley’s writings; and I, bethinking myself of 
the MS. jottings I had made in the volume in 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 275 


question, sent to that publication a considerable 
set of remarks embodying the substance of those 
jottings. As it happened, the firm of Moxon & 
Co., then owning copyright in Shelley, were con- 
templating a re-edition of his works, and they, 
observing my contribution to Notes and Queries, 
invited me to act as Editor, which I did: and 
thus all the labours which, during a long series of 
years, I undertook in relation to Shelley, his text 
and his life, are ultimately traceable back to that 
casual occurrence, the gift of a copy of his Poems 
to me by Mr. Scott. 
NEWCASTLE. 


17 May 1861. 
My Dear W., 


... 1 am glad to hear you speak of 
Shelley’s Prometheus as you do. I always con- 
sidered it one of the most notable creations of 
modern poetry, but having never, as far as I re- 
member, found any one who either did or could 
enter into it, had quite given up speaking of 
Toe! 5 
Leathart has been in London. He tells me 
Plint has given £1250 for five sketches by 
Hunt—those that used to hang in his room, 
bought from Gambart... . 
Yours, old humbug, 


WiuiaMm B. Scorr. 


276 WILLIAM ROSSETTYS DIARY 


144. 
Witu1am Rosserti’s Diary, 1861. 


I began this Diary when I started from London 
with my mother and Christina for a brief trip in 
Paris, Normandy, and Jersey. This was the first 
time that Christina had ever been abroad: the 
second and only other time was in 1865, when she 
and our mother accompanied me into North Italy. 
Although in the Diary I speak of myself and not 
of Christina, it should be understood (and may 
confer interest upon some jottings) that she was 
very frequently along with me when I went out 
walking, &c.: I can particularly remember her com- 
panionship, and the pleasure she expressed, at the 
Hill and Church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours, 
near Rouen, and on a walk towards the seaside 
from Coutances, and at the splendid effect of sun- 
shine after storm from near Avranches. Another 
cherished reminiscence of hers was what she called 
“The Cat of St. L6”—a Persian of monumental 
size, kept at our hotel there. I had myself been 
in Normandy previously, in 1856, including a day 
or two in Coutances ; and I took such a liking to 
that small city that I fixed upon it as our principal 
place of sojourn in 1861. 


Monday, 10 June.—Started for France. .. . 
Reached Paris and got a hotel (Hotel des 


WILLIAM ROSSETTTS DIARY 277 


Gentilhommes), suite of rooms aw premier, to- 
wards midnight. .. . 

17.—A funeral service for Cavour was be- 
ginning at the Madeleine, as we left Paris for 
Rouen. . . . The landlord at Rouen spoke of 
huge demolitions going on, 1059 old houses 
condemned... . 

18.— ... Was told that Corneille’s house has 
been demolished in the “improvements.” . . . 

19.— .. . Bonsecours, the Church all colour 
in walls and glass, and of very considerable 
merit in its way—the inner walls, to the height 
of 7 or 8 feet, one mass of votive tablets (white 
marble gilt chiefly), such as, “J’ai prié 4 Marie, 
elle m’a exaucé, A.B.—1 Jan. 1860,” &c. Xe. 

20.—Left Rouen, passmg by Mantes... . 
A rich, sweet country up to Lizons, and very 
beautifully wooded, under-wooded, and _ sloped ; 
from there to St. L6, where we stay for the 
HIgnt.... 

21.— ... This has been our first rainy day, 
hitherto extremely bright and hot — afternoon 
clear and pleasant after a deluge of rain just 
upon entering Coutances. The severe beauty 


of the Cathedral, with its grand massiveness of 


278 WILLIAM ROSSETTTS DIARY 


slim-stemmed vertical height, still appears to 
me among the very finest ideals of architecture. 
Two or three valuable wall paintings in the 
choir (14th century ?); glass generally white, 
but various windows painted, some (blue, 13th 
century) denser in volume of colour than those 
of the Rouen choir, and perhaps even finer in 
manner. ... 

22.—Walked to the seaside, 10 kilometres to 
the nearest point — thatched cottages covered 
with golden stonecrop; shore perfectly flat, no 
cliffs—great space of sand... . 

28.—Ascended the tower of the Cathedral, 
obtaining the various views of the nave and 
lantern (the painted glass of the choir shows fine 
here) and of the outside. The steeples look very 
magnificent—the Lady Chapel, seen externally, 
seems to have been enlarged, so as to project 
beyond its original form in the apse. The view 
of the country very fine. ‘Took a chaise to 
Lessay, passing, after the first third or so of 
the way, over an extensive swampy plain, open 
on all sides, and inapt for cultivation. An old 
Norman Church here, of considerable size and 


grand strength of style, carefully kept—capitals 


WILLIAM ROSSETTTS DIARY 279 


various, and mostly of a simple character—many 
corbels of ornamental design, or grotesque heads 
of men and animals. 

29.—Walked out by the Lessay and _ back 
by the Granville Road. . . . A toad which I 
overturned in a rut (in my morning’s walk) 
walked off to a puddle and washed its face with 
its hands. .. . 

July 4.—A dismally rainy day till after 
dinner. Wrote a list of memoranda to be 
sent to Murray. 

6.— Left Coutances — frequent and heavy 
showers. Very fine views of wooded hill and dale 
some 10 kilometres before reaching Avranches, 
and again over a great space of country just 
before entering the town. . . . Hotel de Londres, 
Avranches. .. . 

8.— ... At the close of a day of heavy rain, 
went out to the hill-top, and was rewarded by 
its clearing up and giving the splendid view 
much finer than I had yet seen it. On the 
highest point of the rise, to the right, is the 


1 In these years, whenever I went abroad, I was in the practice 
of making a few notes on works of art &c., and sending them to 
the publisher Murray for his various Handbooks. He, in acknow- 
ledgment, presented me with two or three of the Handbooks 
from time to time. 


280 WILLIAM ROSSETTTS DIARY 


pierre de Henri II., on which he kneeled to 
receive absolution for the death of Becket, sole 
relic of the Cathedral. It is a flat pavement- 
stone, enclosed, with the inscription written upon 
a fragment of a good old column (seems a capital 
reversed) which I should surmise to belong also 
to the Cathedral... . 

9.—Left Avranches and arrived at Granville. 
Walk on the beach, muddy and shingly at first, 
afterwards rocky, picking up sea-creatures—sea- 
star, sea-slug (?), prawn, two or three sorts of 
anemones, &c. .. . 

11.—To Jersey—sea splendidly bright deep- 
blue with purplish streaks as we entered... . 

12.—Excursion—omnibus to Greve de Lecq 
(did not see the cavern, the state of the tide not 
propitious), Bouley Bay, both fine heights and 
rocky sea—the latter especially fine. Mont Or- 
gueil an interesting and extensive ruin; but (no 


custodian attending) did not find any particular 


ancient details, except a chamber on low pillars, 


vaulted, and like a crypt—the bay here, on the 
further side, remarkably semicircular. Much 
pleasant scenery throughout of vales, dells, and 


lanes. Grey and rainy day. 


WILLIAM ROSSETTTS DIARY 281 


13.—Returned to London by Weymouth. . . . 

14,.—Learned from the Atheneum the mourn- 
ful fact of Mrs. Browning’s death—I saw her 
last just towards the beginning of last October 
at Marciano, Siena. 

16.—'Two other quite recent deaths — poor 
Mrs. Wells! of fever after a confinement, and 
Plint quite suddenly... . 

22.—Gabriel tells me (having heard it from 
Val Prinsep) that Mrs. Browning died through 
catching cold on the journey from Rome to 
Siena.— Ruskin undertakes £100 of the cost 
of publication of Gabriel’s Italian translations 
by Smith & Elder. 

August 8.—Hunt called. . . . The Temple 
picture—Plint had bought it for either £3000 
or £4000. Hunt superintends the chromo-litho- 
graphs of the Arundel Society, seeing that the 
print agrees with the original copy from the 
IDICLULO.)).. /s: 

15.—Gambart, upon whom I called on some 
business of Scott’s, complained of Gabriel in re- 
ference to Plint’s affairs. He says he and others 


1 Mrs. Wells, wife of the R.A. portrait-painter, was (as pre- 
viously stated) a sister of Mr. Boyce, and herself a painter of quite 
unusual promise, or indeed attainment. 


282 WILLIAM ROSSETTTS DIARY 


concerned are debating whether to advise Mrs. 
Plint to administer, and so become responsible 
for various heavy debts, or to renounce, and 
leave the creditors to realize assets. That he 
and two others called for Gabriel, Brown, and 
Jones, wanting to see the pictures in progress for 
money paid by Plint and could get no satisfac- 
tion; that, if things go on so, Mrs. Plint will 
be compelled to leave the creditors to realize, 
without option of administering. The pictures 
ought to be finished towards April, to be sold 
by Christie... . 

26.—Woolner called—says that Miss Cushman 
toldyhim that a friend of hers was lately walking 
with Browning about Paris, and that the poor 
fellow was often in tears. He means to come 
over to England in November, and settle. It 
was on Woolner’s advice to Fairbairn that the 
decision of not giving prizes to Fine Art in the 
Exhibition of 1862 was come to.! .. . 

Sept. '7.—Saw Gabriel’s triptych. He speaks 
of Morris’ having found the real way of painting 


1 Tt will be understood that Mr. Woolner, in giving this advice, 
was actuated, not by any spite against his deserving brother- 
artists, but by a profound distrust of the methods of premiating 
bodies—the measure of their discernment in matters of art, and of 
freedom from bias and influencing. 


WILLIAM ROSSETTTS DIARY 283 


glass, by putting the colour on the back of it. 
A design of Gabriel’s at Red Lion Square, 
and others; the colour invented and applied by 
Morris. Gabriel does not mean his triptych to 
be considered as a Nativity or Adoration, but 
rather as Christ sprung from high and low and 
Lord of high and low... . 

21.—Dined for the first time with the Cayleys 
at Blackheath. Arthur Cayley here;! also an 
old gentleman who had been in Russia in the 
Emperor Paul’s time, and had been subjected to 
an edict against cravat-ties; he had to tie his 
own at the back, or would have been liable to 
arrest. A Mr. Moberley said that he had found 
the residuum of alum works an infallible remedy 
for the potato disease, but all his efforts failed to 
make either farmers or scientific men look into it. 

22.—Woolner back from the Trevelyans 2— 
says that Ruskin at Oxford has compelled a 
carver he had sent down to discontinue carving 
a figure by Pollen on the arch at the Oxford 
Museum, on the ground of its being sensual. 

1 The renowned Mathematical Professor at Cambridge, brother 
of my friend Charles Bagot Cayley. 


2 Sir Walter and Lady Trevelyan, of Wallington, Northumber- 
land. 


284 WILLIAM ROSSETTYIS DIARY 


. . On the 20th a meeting at the Hogarth, 
which resolved against the shilling Exhibition, 
and against the continuance of the Club... . 

30.—Hunt called. Referred to a dream he 
had in Paris en route to the East. Dreamed that, 
being about to part from his mother, he saw 
in a dark chamber a gaunt, tall form within a 
doorway, which his mother perceiving shrieked 
out “Oh! Death! Death!” This was on (say) 
January 20. Next year on January 21 was woke 
by the hostess at his house in Jerusalem crying 
“Death! Death!” on the death of her boy some- 
what suddenly from taking cold. Next year, 
January 22, was woke in the ship, coming from the 
Crimea, by a tremendous crash, striking against 
a rock. Two or three years afterwards, same 
period, another incident. .. . 

Oct. 7.—Dr. Heimann,! with whom I spent the 
evening, says that all the old clothesmen Mc. 
know Hebrew, and are often ardent and acute 
theologians. He considers Cayley’s Psalms a 
failure in poetic effect. . . . 

1 Dr. Adolf Heimann, Professor of German at University Col- 
lege, London. Dante Gabriel and the rest of us had studied 


German towards 1843 under his tuition, and he was one of the 
kindest and most encouraging friends of all our early youth. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 285 


16.—At Hunt’s. . . . Went to the Kensing- 
ton Life School: Old Mulready drawing there, 
and a most punctual attendant—Yeames. Hunt 
says it is now a twelvemonth since he made any 
money whatever. He considers there are scarce 
half-a-dozen British artists of the day who make 
a continuous income of £500 a year throughout 
the prime of their lives by painting—Leech, he 
says, makes £2000. .. . 

26.—Gabriel told me of Mrs. Plint’s death. 


145. 
Dante Rosserri fo Mapox Brown. 


By “Seddon’s picture” The Seed of David must 
be meant; and by “ Plint’s Johnson” the water- 
colour of Dr. Johnson and the Methodist Young Ladies 
at the Mitre Tavern. Scott’s pictures were the series, 
or part of the series, of paintings illustrative of 
Northumbrian history, which he was executing for 
Sir Walter Trevelyan’s mansion at Wallington. They 
had been brought to London, and were placed on 
exhibition for a while. 

[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
5 July 1861.] 

Dear Brown, 

. . . I hope now to get on with Seddon’s 


picture, but have also to finish Plint’s Johnson 


286 ROSSETTI TO GAMBART 


before the 14th. I worked for an hour yester- 
day on the centre light for the shop glass, and 
if I can spare another hour to-day will send it 
in this evening I hope. Nearly all my yesterday 
was occupied with paying necessary debts, and 
do you know that the process leaves me, out of 
a hundred guineas, about £25 or a little more, 
and there will still be debts dropping in to pay 
out of that. So, my dear fellow, I fear I must 
be a defaulter to you again till I get rid of 
something else, which I hope and trust may 
be soon. ... 

Want much to get Scott and you and one or 
two more here soon. I saw his pictures again 
yesterday. They are truly great, for all their 
poor tone.) A 


Yours affectionately, 
D. G. R. 
146. 
Dante Rosserri to ErNEst GAMBART. 


Rossetti drew up this letter to Mr. Gambart; but, 
before sending it off, took counsel with Madox 
Brown, and I presume the letter remained un- 
posted. As it shows his decided style in matters 
of business, I think it worth insertion. 


ROSSETTI TO GAMBART 287 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
Dear Si, 10 July 1861.| 


In reference to your call and message 
of Wednesday, I beg to say that I shall not 
show the pictures to any one till they are finished. 
I never show work of importance in progress, 
and the principal picture I have in hand for Mr. 
Plint’s trustees is not nearly finished. Within 
three months from the present date (when I shall 
better know my exact engagements) I will name 
a day for their delivery. As regards the Pro- 
bate Duty, all that can be needed is to know 
the amount of the commissions, which I have 
already communicated to Mr. Knight of Leeds. 
As regards the delay in the (undetermined) 
delivery of these commissions, what I now wish 
still is to do justice to the estate in their com- 
pletion. I will only add, then, that if I take 
my own time they shall be good pictures, but 
if I am hurried they will be bad ones. I am 
now extremely busy finishing an altar-piece for 
Llandaff Cathedral, which has to be sent in 
by the end of this month. It is_ therefore 
quite out of the question my seeing any one 


on business which no interviews can further. 


288 RUSKIN TO ROSSETTI 


Within the three months I fix, you or the trustees 
will hear again from me as to the delivery of 


the pictures. 
I am 


Yours truly, 
D. G. Rossertt. 


147. 
Joun Ruskin to Dante RosseEtrtt. 


[DENMARK HILL, 
1861—? August.] 
My Dear Rossetti, 


I was very glad to hear from you, and 
will certainly recommend Mr. Plint’s executors 
—if I am referred to by them—to act for their 
own or the estate’s interest as you propose. 
But I hope somebody will soon throw you into 
prison. We will have the cell made nice, 
airy, cheery, and tidy, and you'll get on with 
your work gloriously. Love to Ida. 


Ever affectionately yours, 
J. Ruskin. 
I will not mention your name. I should re- 


commend the arrangement you propose entirely 


in their interest. 


F. STEPHENS TO W. ROSSETTI 289 


148. 
Freperic SterpHens to Winuiam Rosserrt 


Mr. Stephens was Honorary Secretary to the 
Hogarth Club, and he wrote this letter in his official 
no less than his private capacity. Mr. Robert 
Martineau was Treasurer. 


GRISTHORPE LODGE, NEAR FILEY. 
13 September 1861. 


My Dear Wit, 

I find I cannot very well get to Lon- 
don in time to attend the Hogarth General 
Meeting on the 20th inst... . 

Martineau’s statement respecting the finan- 
cial position of the Club seems to me conclusive 
that we cannot possibly continue in Waterloo 
Place beyond Lady Day next—unless indeed the 
members remaining consent to a considerably 
increased subscription, a thing not to be thought 
of, I opine. The number of members retiring 
on Lady Day is considerable. . 

The things to be decided are—Istly, if the 
paying Exhibition is to take place or not. 
You will remember that at the last meeting the 


impression seemed to be (although no action 
# T 


290 W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 


was taken to that effect) that it was not feas- 
ible. Brown’s letter enclosed herewith speaks 
his opinion. . . . As far as I am concerned I 
would heartily help the proposed Exhibition 
if I saw any rational hope of its success, but, 
knowing from rueful experience the fickle tem- 
pers of the artistic members, I have not an atom 
of hope in it: so, therefore, and for some per- 
sonal reasons, I must resign my office at once 
if the scheme goes on... . 

The 2nd thing for decision is if the Club 
can go on at all on a reduced scale — indeed, 
if it is worth while to do so. It must be remem- 
bered that our loss of members is apparently 
constant, 4.1% 


Ever thine, 


F. G. STEPHENS. 


149. 
W. B. Scorr to Witi1am Rosset v1. 


The bulk of this letter relates to a project for 
offering to the National Portrait Gallery a portrait 
of the late David Scott the painter, done by himself 
(W. B. Scott’s brother). Whatever his defects, 
David Scott was a painter of distinguished genius 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 291 


and faculty ; and the non-acceptance of the portrait 
was a case of thick-headedness such as our public 
bodies do occasionally exhibit. 


[ NEWCASTLE. ] 
17 November 1861. 


Dear W., 

. . . About the portrait. From Scharf’s 
letter you seem to leave it to me to come before 
the Trustees as offering the picture. Do you 
think a brother is the right man, especially if he 
is also an artist? I think not, so clearly that I 
can’t do it, and have written Scharf saying so 
I have said to him that “I make the picture 
absolutely yours, leaving you to offer it, either 
now or after the Great Exhibition, when _per- 
haps some of my brother’s pictures may have 
become known there.” 

Do you approve of this? I hope you do, 
and that you will act in it exactly as you think 
best. If you offer it now, I could ask Carlyle 
to express his opinion, I think. I could ask 
him, and I think he would do it... . 

Letitia and I are both very pleased to hear 
that Christina’s poems are to come out. We all 


get our deserts somehow. Every one’s familiar 


292 SIR G. SCHARF TO W. ROSSETTI 


may say with Charles V., “Time and I against 
the world.” Yours ever, 
W. B. Scorr. 

On second thoughts, I have not sent my letter 
to Scharf, as your forwarding his letter to me 
was not intended by him, nor does it appear 
necessary for me to enter the field if you are 
willing to offer the picture in your own name. 
Perhaps if the offer was delayed till next year 
it would be better. Decidedly so if some of 
his best pictures were to appear at the Exhibi- 
tion. I have written to the proprietors of two 
of his best works; but whether they act on 
my suggestion, and if so whether the Exhibi- 
tion Committee select the pictures in question 
(Gloucester carried into Calais and the Alchemist 


Lecturing), remains of course doubtful. 


150. 
Sin Georce ScuarF to Witi1AmM Rossetti. 


NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, 
29 GREAT GEORGE STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W. 
22 November 1861. 


Dear Mr. Rossertt, 
I took an opportunity yesterday of 


privately consulting some of the most influential 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 293 


members of our Trust upon the subject of your 
note. ‘The present feeling is decidedly against 
his eligibility. I would therefore very gladly 
waive any more decided canvass of opinion. A 
few years later, when the public know more 
about that artist, the feeling of the Trustees 
may take a different form. .. . 
Yours ever sincerely, 


GEORGE SCHARF. 


151. 
W. B. Scorr to Witi1am Rossert1. 


NEWCASTLE, 


30 November 1861. 
My Dear W., 


The business of the portrait has turned 
out badly. I have a conviction that the preven- 
tative individual is Eastlake, who is, I believe, 
the most frequently about the place, as indeed 
is natural. You can easily imagine Eastlake’s 
style of taste and feeling polarizes him against 
all strong meat of my brother’s kind. No doubt 
some of his best pictures will be exhibited next 
year, which may (I hope will) make him better 
known in London. You had better keep the 


294 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


picture. Hang it in your bedroom or any- 
where for ten or twenty years, and try again. 
I think it may some day or other be really 
received with thanks... . 
Yours very affectionately, 
W. B. Scorr. 


152. 
Dante Rossetti to Mapox Brown. 
[2 December 1861.] 
Drar Brown, 

I'm doing the Parable of the Vineyard 
for the shop glass. I think you have a number 
of Pictorial History of England with a Saxon 
winepress in it. Would you kindly send it me 
by book post? If you’ve anything else in the 
Vineyard line you might include it. 

Some day I shall rush down on you, but am 
getting awfully fat and torpid. 
With our love to all of you, 


Your affectionate 
D. G. RosseErtt. 


P.S.—Poor old Gilchrist! two of his kids and 


one of his servants are laid up with scarlatina. 


ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 295 


153. 
Dante Rossetrri to Mapox Brown. 


[4] December 1861. 
Dear Brown, 


I write, in case you have not heard, 
to say that poor Gilchrist is suddenly dead of 
scarlet fever. This is indeed fearful. I am 
asked to go to-morrow to the funeral, but 
really think I cannot, both from the miserable 
suddenness of the shock, and certainly also 
from a fear that it would be hardly safe. The 
Sunday evening before last I spent with him 
at his house (when two children and a servant 
were already attacked), Ned Jones and Swin- 
burne being there with me. He was then 
perfectly well, and I never spent a pleasanter 
evening. 

I should have come to you to-night on hearing 
this, but that Lizzie is particularly unwell. 
Your affectionate 


D. G. RosseEtrt. 


P.S.—I hope there is less danger than in some 
cases of the family being unprovided for, as I 
believe Mrs. Gilchrist’s friends are well off. 


296 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


154. 


Dante Rosserri to Prorressor Norton, 


Cambridge, Massachusetts. 


The “ solitary stay in the country,” during which 
Rossetti produced Before the Battle, must, I suppose, 
have been at Matlock: Miss Siddal, however, was 
there the whole or most of the time.—The portrait 
of Browning, water-colour, belongs now to Mr. 
Fairfax Murray.—Mr. Morris's house in Kent—at 
Upton — was built under Morris’s own immediate 
inspection ; but, as a piece of architecture, it was, 
I think, more the work of Mr. Webb than of him- 
self.—The risk of war between the United States 
and England had arisen, during the course of the 
American Civil War, through the seizure of two Con- 
federate Commissioners on board an English vessel. 
These Commissioners had been surrendered by the 
Federal Government on 28th December—a fact 
which was apparently unknown to Rossetti when 
he wrote on 9th January. 


14 CHATHAM PLACE, BLACKFRIARS, 
9 Fanuary 1862. 
My Dear Norton, 


Apologies for long silence and for other 
remissness between friends are generally matters 
in some degree of compliment, and chiefly, at 


any rate, of friendly good-will (?). But in writing 





ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 297 


to you this time I have no right to pretend 
to treat the matter in any such way. In all 
earnestness I am truly and bitterly ashamed of 
my neglect in your regard. It is one of those 
things which I would not have believed of my- 
self if it had been foretold to me beforehand; 
and yet so it has been. No excuse of other 
pressing occupations or distractions can in the 
least mitigate the unpardonable nature of my 
conduct towards one whose good opinion I should 
sincerely have valued, as I may truly say I 
should yours, and yet have forfeited it in the 
most shameful way. All the more shamefully 
that I have had repeated evidence of kind let- 
ters and presents from you in the course of these 
several years to prove that your kind feeling 
towards me had held out to the last against 
following the way of your esteem for me. What 
can I say now, then, in sitting down to write 
this letter? Really there is nothing but the 
pitiful resource of throwing myself on your for- 
giveness,—all the meaner on my part for my 
knowing that you have already granted it. 

First, of the drawing (Before the Battle) which 
has been so long by me and yet your property. 


298 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


There is only one shadow of reason which I can 
give for this—namely, that I found it did not 
prove a favourite among my drawings with our 
mutual friend Ruskin, who had not seen it, having 
been absent (unless my memory plays me false) 
up to the time of my last writing you about it 
and your accepting the offer of it. I do not 
wish to convey the idea to you that Ruskin 
thinks it bad, which is not the case, as he has 
at various times praised it to me as it hung on 
my walls; but I was sufficiently sure that it was, 
as I say, no favourite with him, comparatively 
with some other doings of mine, to regret some- 
what that just this drawing should be the one 
destined for you, who as I know (though of 
course you are far indeed from being alone in 
this) place so high a value on his opinion. 
Nor will I disguise from you that, on mature 
consideration of the drawing, I myself think 
it rather ultra-medieeval,—it having been pro- 
duced during a solitary stay in the country of 
some length, at a time when I was peculiarly 
nourishing myself with such impressions. I was 
therefore constantly thinking that if, before long, 


I had some other work at my disposal of a 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 299 


different character, I would give you your choice 
between the two. But the time has become long 
and doubly long, and this has never been the 
case; as all my doings have left me hastily 
(and by necessity) as soon as done, or sometimes 
almost before done. Meanwhile the drawing 
Before the Battle will at any rate have gained 
somewhat by revision owing to the long time 
I have had it under my eye; and to-morrow 
I will commence putting the last touches to 
it, and within a week it shall most assuredly 
be on its way to you. It has, as I told you 
before, been long substantially finished, but I 
trust to improve it somewhat still, as after so 
long an interval I shall come fresh to it. If, 
when you get it, it does not please you, will 
you tell me so frankly without disguise? and as 
soon as ever I have anything else to offer you in 
exchange for it—which is sure to be the case 
sooner or later, and I would try to make it as 
soon as possible—you should hear from me on the 
subject. I dare say you know already that my 
drawing will now make all the better pendant 
to the Clerk Saunders already on your walls, as 


the painter of the latter has now become my wife. 


300 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


Some days ago I directed my publishers to 
forward you a copy of my book just out on the 
Early Italian Poets, which I hope will accord- 
ingly have reached you before you get this. You 
know how long it has been on the stocks, so 
you see I sometimes do fulfil a project—at last. 
After all its years of progress, it only comes in 
time not to be behind a translation of the whole 
Vita Nuova which Mr. Theodore Martin has 
just brought out. I cannot say I am much 
afraid of it, though in the introduction and 
notes there is much that shows taste and scho- 
larship, but the translation appears to me to 
miss the subtler side of the original. 

Your Essay on, and extracts from, the Veta 
Nuova reached me long ago with its kind in- 
scription, and is too well and delicately done 
to need my testimony to its beauties. A word, 
however, I could not but say of it in a note 
to my volume. Of all the accessory matter 
published with the Vita Nuova in any English 
form, yours is greatly the most valuable. For 
my own part, I was both induced and compelled 
to presuppose some Dantesque knowledge on 


the part of the readers of my translation of the 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 301 


Vita Nuova, both on account of the information 
being to be found elsewhere—and nowhere so 
satisfactorily I think as with you—and through 
the claims on my space of other matters almost 
absolutely new to every one in this country. 

I have to thank you also for your capital 
exposure of the new (so-called) translation of 
Benvenuto da Imola; and last, though not 
least, for your T’ravel and Study im Italy, full of 
points of interest which need something beyond 
the usual traveller’s insight to take note of and 
report. I dare say you are now doing some- 
thing worth reading in the Atlantic Monthly, 
but it never comes in my way. 

I have lately had two visits from dear glorious 
Browning, who, though now settled in England, 
has hardly seen any one as yet since his bereave- 
ment; so that I may think it no small honour 
that he should already have been twice seated 
opposite the portrait of him which is still almost 
the only ornament of my studio walls. Under- 
neath it, however, on the mantelpiece, is now a 
cast from life of the face of Keats, which you 
cannot have seen. I met with it by accident, and 


got Munro, whom I think you know, to take a 


302 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


mould of it. So, if you like to have a cast, I 
believe one is still to be got through him. He 
is now in Italy (on his wedding trip), but I will 
see about it on his return if you like. The only 
expense would be that of casting and carriage. 
I procured one for Browning. 

You will perhaps be surprised that my old 
quarters should stand their ground with a mar- 
ried man as I now am. You perhaps know that 
my wife is, and has been for many years, an 
invalid ; and our wish was to live at Hampstead, 
where for some time after our marriage we took 
lodgings, and looked for a permanent habitation, 
I meanwhile coming every day to my work in the 
old quarters. But everything that seemed eligible 
at Hampstead persisted in slipping through our 
fingers; and the inconvenience and expense of 
divided dwelling and studio was so great that 
at last my wife resolved to settle here with me 
till we could suit ourselves in more suburban 
quarters. Accordingly, to get elbow-room, we 
took the second floor of No. 13 in addition 
to my second floor at 14, and opened a door 
of communication between the two suites of 


rooms (both houses fortunately belonging to one 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 303 


landlord, and no objection being raised), and so 
got space enough on one floor for my work and 
my wife’s comfort both to be consulted. Indeed 
there is something so delightfully quaint and 
characteristic about our quarters here that noth- 
ing but the conviction that they cannot be the 
best for her health would ever induce me to 
move. However—this being so—I would move 
at once if I found a nice place elsewhere, and 
hope to do so before long. I write this in our 
“drawing-room,” entirely hung round with her 
water-colours of poetic subjects, which I wish 
you could see, as many of them would delight 
you. However, she is unhappily too confirmed 
an invalid to leave a hope now that she will 
ever be able to make the most of her genius. 
Indeed the strength to work at all is only rarely 
accorded her. I wish heartily you were here 
with us this fine bright winter’s evening. We 
have filled our room with all the pretty things 
we could get, and I have had the fireplace covered 
with real old blue glazed Dutch tiles—many of 
them scriptural— such as John Wesley (was 
it?) learnt the Bible stories from at his mother’s 


knee. I am writing this before going to 


304 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


a meeting of a firm to which I belong (!!)— 
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, & Co.—Art work- 
men (Morris being moreover the admirable poet 
whose Defence of Guenevere, &c., you probably 
know). I enclose you one of our _prospec- 
tuses, and assure you we mean to do wonders 
—aindeed are already making some way, though 
cautiously, of course only venturing as far as 
commissions actually in hand permit of outlay. 
Our commissions as yet are chiefly in stained 
glass, but I wish you could see a painted cabi- 
net with the history of St. George, and other 
furniture of great beauty which we have in 
hand. We have bespoke space at the Great Ex- 
hibition, and hope to make the best show there 
that a short notice will permit of. Our stained 
glass, at any rate, I will venture to say, may 
challenge any other firm to approach it, and 
must, I think, establish a reputation when seen, 
for as yet we have been constantly at work 
for some months, but have had little time or 
opportunity of showing our work. Morris, 
and Webb the architect, are our most active 
men of business as regards the actual conduct 


of the concern: the rest of us chiefly confine 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 305 


ourselves to contributing designs when called 
for, as of course the plan is to effect something 
worth doing by co-operation, but without the 
least interfering with the individual pursuits of 
those among us who are painters. A name 
perhaps new to you on our list—but destined 
to be unsurpassed, perhaps unequalled, in fame 
by any name of this generation—is Edward 
Burne Jones. He is a painter still younger than 
most of us by a good deal, and who has not yet 
exhibited, except at some private places; but I 
cannot convey to you in words any idea of the 
exquisite beauty of all he does. To me no art 
I know is so utterly delightful, except that of 
the best Venetians. 

Above all, I wish you could see the house 
which Morris (who has money) has built for 
himself in Kent. It is a most noble work in 
every way, and more a poem than a house such 
as anything else could lead you to conceive, but 
an admirable place to live in too. 

After all perhaps, it just strikes me, we may 
have you among us this Exhibition year. Surely 
we ought to. You do not know how much there 


is that will be new to you of what you would 
U 


306. ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


like best. And surely too it must be painful 
to an American to see what is to be seen with 
you now. This however is a matter so out of 
the current of my ideas that I am quite incom- 
petent to speak of it. God send we may not 
have war with your country, here at least! It 
would be the end of all things. 
_ Ruskin (I have never yet begun his_ por- 
trait for you, but still hope to do it before he is 
much older—there are few men as yet on whom 
age tells so little) is not back yet, I believe, in 
England, or if he is back it must be only just, 
as I have not yet seen him. His health some 
months ago seemed to be more a matter for 
anxiety than I have ever known it, and his 
spirits also appeared to have suffered either 
from mental or bodily causes, or both. But 
the last time I saw him, between two con- 
tinental trips, I was rejoiced to find much of 
this worn away, and he seemed more himself 
again. I*trust to find this even more the case 
now. 

Of other friends and their work there is so 
much to say if one began at all (though little 


enough I fear of my own doings) that I must 


W. B. SCOTT TO W. ROSSETTI 307 


needs forbear it altogether for the present, as 
the hour of our “Shop” meeting (by-the-bye 
we really hope to have a shop like Giotto! and 
a sign on the door! !) is almost more than here. 
So now, with my wife’s kind regards joined to 
my own, believe me, en attendant mieux—that 
is, your advent in London one day—and in 
spite of all shameful shortcomings, 
Sincerely and warmly yours, 


D. G. Rosserrt. 


P.S—My sister has a little book of Poems— 
Goblin-Market and other Poems—in the press 
with Macmillan. I think you will think it 
worth looking into. By-the-bye, I hear from 
my brother of Stillman’s reappearance in London, 


but have not yet seen him. 


155. 
W. B. Scorr fo Wuiitam RossktrI1. 


NEWCASTLE. 


12 January 1862. 
My Dear W., 


.. - Letitia and I went down to Fair- 


bairn’s in Berwickshire and spent a few days. 


308 ROSSETTI TO MADOX BROWN 


... The Free Kirk minister was in his usual 
plodding health. . . . In the evening Fairbairn 
was persuaded to read Tam O'Shanter, which 
he did with much gusto, though with some com- 
punction after—expressed by, “ Aye, I wish I 
hadn’t read that noo,” as we drove home. You 
would have liked to see the effect Burns made 
on the Scotch audience, every one of whom— 
farmers for the most part—of course knew T’am 
O'Shanter as well as the New 'Testament— 
except a sea-captain who had been in China 
for the last twenty years perhaps. Make the 
listeners a parcel of ploughmen &c., and I 
thought a capital subject for a picture of char- 
acter would be found. 

Some time or other you can return the portrait 


of David... . 
Most sincerely yours, 


WiiuraMm B. Scort. 


156. 
Dante Rossetti to Mapox Brown. 


The person whose name I here omit was, I pre- 
sume, a pupil in the Art-School of the Working 
Men’s College. 


W. ROSSETTI—MEMORANDA = 309 


[14 CHATHAM PLACE. 
14 January 1862.] 


Drar Brown, 

I gave a testimonial too; and had in 
return the modest request that it might be 
altered to higher praise, which I declined to 
do, as it had already gone rather against my 
conscience—seeing that this genius seems, by 
comparison with any other pupil in the class, 
to have taken to art as a calling for the usual 


reason of unusual incompetence. 


Yours, 


Dy Ge ak. 


157. 
Wituram Rossetrt1.—MEMoRANDA. 


These jottings come from a Diary which I be- 
gan in 1862, in continuation from 1861. I seem 
to have dropped it soon after the death of my 
brother’s wife, February 11, 1862. The few points 
which I noted down regarding that loss were 
printed in my Memoir of Dante Rossetti, and there- 
fore do not appear here; nor have I by me any 
other details on the subject.—Mrs. Heaton, men- 
tioned on January 27, is a lady then settled at 
Bingley in Yorkshire, wife of Mr. J. Aldam Heaton 


310 W. ROSSETTI—~MEMORANDA 


(deceased in 1897) long well known in London 
as a decorative artist: she is not related to Miss 
Heaton of Leeds, named elsewhere. My brother 
had recently painted a portrait of her. His de- 
sign of The Salutation, executed in stained glass, 
may perhaps be in St. Martin’s-on-the-Hill, Scar- 
borough: the other glass-design which he _ pro- 
duced for Mrs. Heaton is, I presume, still extant, 
but has passed out of my ken.— Palgrave” was 
Mr. F. T. Palgrave, late Professor of Poetry in 
Oxford. 


1862. 


January 25.—H. remembers Sir Hudson Lowe, 
and says he was particularly gentle and con- 
ciliating in manner. 

27.—At Morris, Marshall, & Co.’s, intro- 
duced by Gabriel to Mrs. Heaton. His glass of 
The Salutation, and for Mrs. Heaton’s house— 
a woman genius holding a model of the house, 
and the grounds with swans in a sheet of water. 
Morris’s cartoons for glass of the Creation. His 
glass of the Annunciation very good. 

29.—At Palgrave’s and Woolner’s, to welcome 
latter into 29 Welbeck Street. . . . Tennyson’s 
Great Exhibition poem and Albert Dedication 


ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 311 


in MS. Former not up to the mark. Latter 
(Princess Alice wrote Tennyson to say) was the 
first thing on the subject that has touched the 
Queen. Her letter was addressed “Mr. Tenny- 
son.” .. . Hunt says Millais has spent £6000 


on furnishing his house in Cromwell Road. . . . 


158. 


Dante Rosserr1 to Proressor Norron, 


Cambridge, Massachusetts. 


14 CHATHAM PLACE, BLACKFRIARS. 
4 February 1862. 


My Dear Norton, 

To-day at last I have entrusted the 
picture to Green, my frame-maker and_ packer, 
to be forwarded to you immediately. .. . 

I trust the drawing is considerably improved 
since I last wrote you, as I have done a good 
deal to it; and Ruskin, who saw the improve- 
ments only midway, thought it already greatly 
the gainer by what I had then done. Perhaps 
you already know from him that he has begun 
sitting to me for the portrait destined for you. 


312 ROSSETTI TO PROF. NORTON 


If I can get him to sit regularly, I dare say 
it will not be long before you have news of 
this also. The first thing Ruskin said to me 
on returning to England was relative to this 
long-postponed portrait, so I thought it well 


to seize the moment... . 
Very sincerely yours, 


D. G. Rosser. 


INDEX OF NAMES 





INDEX OF NAMES 


A 


ABERDARE, Lord (Bruce), 123- 
125, 129 

Acland, Dr., 80, 82, 85, 89, 92 

Acland, Mrs., 80 

Acquapendente, 251 

A’Kempis, Thomas, 222 

—— Imitation of Christ, by, 
222 

Albany Street, 166 

Alice, Princess, 311 

Allingham, Wm., 8, 20, 85, 87, 
175, 177, 210, 211, 224, 230, 
238 

—— Day and Night Songs, by, 
87 

—— Music-Master, &c., by, 87, 
88 

Alum Bay, 208 

Ambleside, 177 

American Exhibition of British 
Art, 178-81, 185, 187-189, 206 

Anderson, Rev. Charles, 40 

Anthony, Dr., 4 

Anthony, Mark, 4, 37, 40 

Antonelli, Cardinal, 256 

Aristotle, 264 

—— Metaphysics, by, 264 

Artist, The (Magazine), 53 

Arundel Society, 281 


Astley’s Theatre, 43 

Athenzum, The, 140, 172, 281 

Atlantic Monthly, The, 174, 
202, 204, 301 

Australia, 22 

Austria, 227, 252 

Avranches, 276, 279, 280 


B 
B., 215, 216 
Bailey, Philip J., 147 
— Angel-World, by, 147 
Ballyshannon, 175 
Bardi, Simon de’, 95 
Bargello, Florence, 246 
Barlow, T. O., 209, 224, 227, 
228 
Barrett, Miss, 256 
Bath, 146 
Benvenuto da Imola, 301 
Berwickshire, 307 
Betsy (servant), 42 
Billiter Street, 14, 141 
Blackheath, 283 
Bodichon, Mrs., 6, 7 
Bodley, G. F., 216 
Bond, W. J., 172 
Bonsecours, Notre Dame de, 
276, 277 


316 


Boston, 196 

Bouley Bay, 280 

Boyce, G. P., 1, 3, 126, 172, 
216, 248, 281 

Brett, John, 172, 216 

Bright, H., 204 

British Institution, 33, 39, 260, 
261 

British Museum, 250 

Brown, Emma, 9, 18, 23, 39, 42- 
45, 47, 48, 237 

Brown, Ford Madox, 6, 14, 17, 
24, 32, 67, 95, 99, 100, 101, 
121, 122, 124, 128, 144, 146, 
162, 165, 166, 171, 174, 185, 
190, 193, 214, 216, 219, 222, 
236, 239, 248, 252, 254, 257, 
259, 268, 282, 285, 286, 290, 
294, 295, 298 

—— Beauty before she became 
acquainted with the Beast, 
by, 171 

— Brent (The), by, 171 

— Carrying Corn, by, 171 

—— Chaucer at the Court of 
Edward III., by, 18 

— Christ Washing Peter’s 
Feet, by, 194 

— Cordelia and her Sisters, 
Water-colour by, 171 

— Cordelia at Bedside of 
Lear, by, 35, 171, 182, 185, 
195, 196 

—— English Autumn After- 
noon, by, 338, 39, 144, 145, 
171 

— Last of England, by, 22, 
43, 99, 102, 171-174, 254 

—— Prisoners of Chillon, by, 
ge 

—— Shakespear, by, 17 


INDEX OF NAMES 


Brown, Ford Madox, Shorn 
Ridgway, by, 171 

—— Study of Infant, by, 171 

—— ‘Take your Son, Sir,” by, 
1Spag 

— W. M. Rossetti, Portrait 
by, 171, 172 

—— Winandermere, by, 171 

Work, by, 206 

Brown, Oliver Madox, 42, 44 

Browning, Elizabeth B., 147, 
208, 211, 224, 227, 238, 239, 
246, 251, 255, 256, 281 

— Aurora Leigh, by, 147, 
209, 213, 224 

Browning, Miss, 238 

Browning, Robert, 93, 94, 103- 
106, 206-208, 211, 217, 224, 
226, 227, 239, 250, 252, 254, 
256, 282, 301, 302 

—— Men and Women, by, 134 

Pippa Passes, by, 101 

—— Sordello, by, 217-219 

Budden, W. J., 159, 160 

Bunyan, John, 205 

—- Pilgrim’s Progress, by, 205 

Burne-Jones, Lady, 239, 240 

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 135, 
136, 163, 191, 194, 199, 200, 
215, 216, 239, 240, 246, 282, 
295, 305 

Burns, Robert, 308 

—— Tam O’Shanter, by, 308 

Burton, W, 8., 216 








C 


CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, 174 
Campbell, James, 172, 216 
Carlyle, Mrs. , 219 

Carlyle, Thomas, 41,'291 


INDEX OF NAMES 


Carlyle, Thomas, Friedrich, by, 
212 

Carrick, J. M., 216 

Cary, Rev. H. F., 57 

Dante, translated by, 57 

Cavalcanti, Guido, 197, 202, 203 

Cavour, 277 

Cayley, Charles B., 5, 38, 56, 
283 

— Dante, translated by, 5 
56-58 

— Psalms, 
284 

Cayley, Prof. Arthur, 283 

Chapman & Hall, 211, 228 

Charlotte Street, Fitzroy 
Square, 171 

Chatham Place, 14, 33, 40, 42, 
43, 243, 244, 302, 303 

China, 308 

Chiswick, 23-25 

Christie, 282 

Clayton, J. R., 216 

Clevedon, 95 

Clough, Arthur H., 177 

Cobden, Richard, 22 

Coleridge, S. T., 258 

Collins, Charles A,, 34, 172, 
173, 194 

Coniston, 177 

Corneille, Pierre, 277 

Coutances, 276, 277, 279 

Coutances Cathedral, 277, 278 

Cox, David, 217 

Crabb, Mrs., 235, 236 

Crabbe, George, 35 

Crayon, The, 49, 51-53 

Crimea, The, 284 

Critic, The, 87, 88 

Cromwell Road, London, 311 

Cross, John, 40 





5] 


translated by, 


317 


Crowe, Eyre, 216 
Cumberland, 243 
Cushman, Miss, 282 


D 


DaILy News, 144 

Dallas, E. §., 129, 130 

The Gay Science, by, 129 

Dalziel, 125, 146 

Danby, Francis, 217 

Dante, 5, 97, 202, 203 

—— Conyvito, by, 263 

—— Divina Commedia, by, 28, 
30, 31, 258 

—— Vita Nuova, by, 5, 6, 11, 
98, 262 

Dantzic, 23 

Dauphiné, 121 

Davis, Wm., 168, 172, 216 

—— Study in Summer, by, 169, 
170 

—— Study of Dogs, by, 169, 170 

Delacroix, 47, 217 

Denmark Hill, London, 3, 95 

Devonshire, 80, 82 

Dickinson, Lowes, 172 

Dixon, Thomas, 220 

Donati, Gemma, 5 

Dover, 9, 94 

Drury Lane Theatre, 43 

Dublin University Magazine, 4 

Durand, J., 181 

Durand, Senr., 185 

Durer, Albert, 21, 74, 79 

Dyce, Wm., 217 





E 


EARNSHAW, 161 
Eastlake, Sir C. L., 293 


318 INDEX OF NAMES 


Edinburgh Weekly Review, 145 
Egypt, 206 

Elliott, Rev., 144 

Emerson, R. W., 204 


EF 

FaED, Thomas, 135 

Fairbairn, Rev., 307, 308 

Fairbairn, Sir Thomas, 282 

Farringford, 208 

Finch, F, O., 178 

Finchley, 25 

Finlay, J. W., 145 

Florence, 179, 218, 239, 246, 
250 

Folgore da San Gemignano, 
273 

—— Sonnets on the Months, 
by, 273 

Folkestone, 240 

Fortess Terrace, London, 146 

France, 65, 212, 227 

Freiburg, Switzerland, 141 

Fripp, Alfred D., 216 


G 


G., 162, 164 

Gaeta, 255 

Gambart, Ernest, 8, 180, 248, 
275, 281, 286 

Gaskell, Mrs., 204 

Genoa, 119, 121 

Germ, The, 135, 221 

Gilchrist, Alexander, 294, 295 

Gilchrist, Mrs. Alexander, 295 

Gillum, Colonel, 248, 249 

Giorgione, 203 

Giotto, 246, 307 


Giotto, Portrait of Dante, by, 246 
Granville, 279, 280 

Gray, Alice, 110, 111 

Green (frame-maker), 311 
Gréve de Lecq, 280 


H 

H., 310 

Hadrian, Emperor, 161 

—— Address to his soul, by, 
161 

Halliday, Michael F., 172, 216 

Hampstead, 18, 243, 244, 302 

Hannay, James, 33, 34, 38 

—— Satire and_ Satirists, by, 
34 

Hannay, Mrs., 34 

Harrison, 196 

Heaton, J. Adam, 309 

Heaton, Miss, 35, 47, 59-61, 
106, 118, 124, 125, 141, 192, 
309 

Heaton, Mrs., 309, 310 

Heimann, Dr., 284 

Henry II. (England), 280 

Hill, Mrs., 43 

Hogarth, Wim., 4 

Hogarth Club, 214, 259, 261, 
272, 284, 289 

Homer's Iliad, 258 

Horsley, J. C., 194 


— Prince Henry, by, 194, 


195 
Howitt, Mary, 6, 32, 37 
Howitt, Wm., 6 
Howitt-Watts, Anna M., 6, § 
Hueffer, Catherine, 9, 21 
Hueffer, Ford M., 7, 17 
-—— Life of Madox Brown, 
by, 7 


INDEX OF NAMES 


Hughes, Arthur, 38, 172, 199, 
216, 268 

—— April Love, by, 182, 188 

Arthur transported to 
Avalon, by, 200 

—— Fair Rosamond, by, 188 

—— Innocence, by, 181, 182 

—— Sailor-boy, by, 181, 182 

Hunt, Alfred W., 215, 216 

Hunt, Mrs., Senr., 284 

Hunt, Wm. Henry, 148, 149, 
217 

Hunt, Wm. Holman, 4, 10-12, 
ae, 29, 51, 113, 115, 117, 
121, 122, 128, 172, 173, 216, 
219, 261, 275, 281, 284, 285, 
dll 

—— Awakened Conscience, by, 
10 

—— Christ in the Temple, by, 
197, 206, 281 

Great Sphinx, by, 171 

—— Haunted Manor, by, 171 

-— House at New Cairo, by, 
171 

— Light of the World, by, 
4, 5, 8, 181, 182, 185, 195 

—— Scapegoat, by, 128 

—— Tennyson Designs, by, 171 








I 


Ipa (Miss Siddal), 88 

Tilustrated London News, 26 

Inchbold, J. W., 79, 96, 172, 
216 

Ingres, 47 

International Exhibition, 1862, 
282, 291, 292, 294 

Italy, 65, 276, 302 


319 


J 


JERSEY, 70, 76, 276, 280 

Jerusalem, 284 

Johnston, David, 161 

—— Hadrian’s address to his 
soul, collection by, 161 


K 


Keats, John, 259, 301 

Keble College, 181 

Keightley, Thomas, 24 

Kensington, 285 

Kentish Town, 42 

Kincaid, Mrs., 46, 99, 102, 126, 
127 

Kingsley, Rev. Charles, 96 

Kirkup, Barone, 246, 247 

Knight (Leeds), 287 


L 


Lanpor, Walter 8., 246 

Le Jeune, 135 

Lear, Edward, 216 

Leathart, James, 275 

Leech, John, 285 

Leeds, 35, 61, 193, 243 

Leifchild, Franklin, 38 

Leighton, Lord, 92-94, 216 

——  Cimabue Procession, by 
92 

— Romeo and Juliet, by, 195, 
196 

Leopold, Grand-Duke of Tus- 
cany, 227 

Lessay, 278, 279 

Lewis, Arthur, 172 

Lewis, John F., 148, 149, 217 


320 


Linton, W. J., 121 

Liverpool, 144, 168 

Lizons, 277 

Llandaff, Bishop of, 35 

Llandaff Cathedral, 35, 122, 123, 
129 

London Bridge Station, 91 

London Magdalene (picture), 
187, 188 

Longfellow, H. W., 20 

Lowe, Sir Hudson, 310 

Lowell, J. R., 174, 197, 204, 
205 

Lucas, 232 

Lucy, Charles, 36, 40 

— - Lord Wm. Russell, by, 
195 

Lushington, Judge, 246, 247 

Lyster, Alfred C., 24 


M 


MacCRACcKEN, Francis, 4, 9, 19, 
138, 192 

Mackay, Dr. Charles, 26 

Maclennan, J. F., 129 

— Primitive Marriage, by, 
129 

Macmillan, Messrs., 258 

Macmillan’s Magazine, 258 

Maddox Street, London, 14 

Madeleine Church, Paris, 277 

Malory, Sir Thomas, 34 

— Mort Arthur, by, 34, 35, 
200 

Manchester, 179 

Manchester Art-T'reasures Ex- 
hibition, 128, 129, 177 

Mantes, 277 

Marciano, 246, 281 

Marshall, Peter P., 268 


INDEX OF NAMES 


Marshall, Wm., 198, 2438, 244, 
248 

Marston, J. Westland, 137 

Martin, Sir Theodore, 5, 300 

—— Dante and Beatrice, by, 5 

—— Dante’s Vita Nuova, trans- 
lated by, 300 

Martineau, R. B., 38, 172, 194, 
216, 289 

Matlock, 296 

Mentone, 119 

Millais, Sir John E., 4, 8, 10, 
12, 34, 173, 186, 231, 311 

—— Foxglove (The), by, 171 

—— Holman Hunt, Portrait of, 
by, 171 

— Huguenot (The), by, 224, 
228 

— Maude Clare, design by, 
231 

—— Wedding-cards, by, 171 

—— Wilkie Collins, Portrait of, 
by, 171 

Miller, John, 185, 243 

Milton, John, 259 

Mivart’s Hotel, 38 

Moberley, 283 

Mont Cenis, 211 

Mont Orgueil Castle, 280 

Montefiascone, 251 

Moore, 78, 79 

Morris & Co., 268 

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, & 
Co., 268, 273, 304, 310 

Morris, Mrs., 236 

Morris, Wm., 148, 149, 163, 
175, 190, 191, 199, 216, 239, 
240, 268, 282, 283, 296, 304, 
305 

— Creation and Annuncia- 
tion, glass designs by, 310 





INDEX OF NAMES 


Morris, Wm., Defence of Gue- 
nevere, &c., by, 197, 206, 217, 
219, 304 

—— Palomides and Tristram, 
by, 201 

—— Tales in Oxford and Cam- 
bridge Magazine, by, 199 

—— Tristram and Yseult, by, 
194 

Morten, Thomas, 214-216 

Moxon, Edward, 34, 121 

Mulready, Wm., 186, 217, 285 

Munro, Alex., 26, 38, 40, 77, 
129, 219, 301, 302 

—— Arthur and Round Table, 
by, 201 

—— Galileo, by, 132, 133 

Murray, C. Fairfax, 296 

Murray, John, 279 

—— Handbooks of, 279 


N 


N., 259, 260 

Naples, 251 

Naples, Queen of (1860), 255 

Napoleon III., 250, 251 

National Gallery, 11, 36, 158, 
213 

National Magazine, 137 

National Portrait Gallery, 290 

New Testament, 124 

New York, 180 

New York Academy, 196 

Newcastle-on-Tyne, 220 

Newman Street, London, 17, 
18 

Nice, 46, 47, 54, 110, 119, 120, 
126 

Normandy, 276 

North Shields, 9 


321 


Norton, Prof. C, Eliot, 174, 175, 
196, 274, 296, 311 

—— Dante’s Vita Nuova trans- 
lated by, 300 

—— Travel and Study in Italy, 
by, 301 

Norway, 208 

Notes and Queries, 274 


O 


OAKES, J. W., 196, 216 

Once a Week (Magazine), 231, 
232 

Oxford, 26, 81, 82, 84, 121, 190, 
310 

Oxford and Cambridge Maga- 
zine, 135, 186 

Oxford Gallery, 28 

Oxford Union Hall, 186, 187, 
192-194 

Oxford University Museum, 97, 
131-133, 283 


1m 


P.R.B., 44, 182 
Palgrave, F. T., 310 
Pantheon Bazaar, London, 36 
Paris, 46, 105-107, 239, 240, 
276, 282, 284 
Paris Exhibition, 1855, 45, 47 
Patmore, Coventry, 139, 140 
—— Angel in the House, by, 
20 
Paul, B. H., 38 
Paul, Emperor, 283 
Philadelphia, 180 
Philadelphia Opera-house, 196 
Pictorial History of England, 
294 
X 


322 


Pius IX., 256 

Plint, Mrs., 282, 285 

Plint, T. E., 198, 194, 223, 249, 
275, 281, 282, 287, 288 

Polidori, Charlotte L., 19 

Pollen, J. Hungerford, 190, 191, 
200, 214-16, 283 

—— Arthur with Excalibur, by, 
200 

Pont-y-monach, 104, 105 

Portinari, Beatrice, 97, 98, 262 

Portinari, Folco, 263 

Preraphaelite Exhibition, 169, 
171, 172, 174, 191, 196 

Prinsep, Valentine C., 200, 217, 
223, 281 

—— Pellias and Ettarde, by, 
201 


Q 


QUEEN of Red Chessmen (tale), 
205 


R 


RAPHAEL, 231 

Ravensbourne Wharf, Green- 
wich, 36 

Robertson, 67 

Rome, 52, 211, 212, 218, 239, 
250, 255, 281 

Rossetti, Christina G., 32, 45, 
46, 48, 93, 100, 207, 220, 221, 
232, 233, 258, 274, 276, 291 

— Goblin Market, &c., by,258, 
307 

—— Maude Clare, by, 231 

—— Uphill, by, 258 

Rossetti, Dante G., 1, 4, 6, 10, 
14, 17-22 24-27, 31-49, 52, 
54, 56, 59, 62, 64, 66, 67, 69, 
70, 76, 77, 78, 81-84, 86, 89, 


INDEX OF 


NAMES 


90, 92, 94-97, 99, 100, 101, 
103, 104, 105, 107, 109, 110, 
113-117, 119-126, 128, 130, 
131, 135, 136, 188-140, 143, 
144, 146, 148, 157, 159, 162, 
165-169, 173, 174, 179, 181- 
184, 186, 190, 191, 193, 196, 
209, 211, 214, 217, 220, 222, 
225, 228, 229, 233, 235, 236, 
239, 242, 245, 248, 252, 257- 
259, 261, 268, 273, 281-286, 
288, 294-296, 308, 310, 311 

Rossetti, Dante G., Beatrice at 
Marriage Feast, by, 114, 115, 
116, 118, 124, 139, 141, 149 

— Before the Battle, by, 175, 
177, 198, 204, 296-299, 311 

—— Belle Dame Sans Merci, 
by, 114 

—— Blessed Damozel, by, 21, 
103 

—— Blue Closet, by, 171, 173 

—— Bocca Baciata, by, 248 

—— Borgia, by, 1 

—— Browning, Portrait of, by, 
296 

—— Burd-Alane, by, 248 

—— Cassandra, by, 249 

—— Dante Drawing an Angel, 
water-colour by, 4, 171, 173 

Dante’s Dream, water- 
colour by, 59-61, 125, 171, 
173 

—— Dante’s Vita Nuova, trans- 
lated by, 5, 97, 98, 301 

—— Early Italian Poets, by, 
13, 139, 196, 202-204, 220, 
229, 230, 262, 273, 281, 300 

—— Found, picture by, 10, 12, 
19, 21, 22, 23, 96 

—— Fra Pace, by, 107, 109, 125 





INDEX OF NAMES 


Rossetti, Dante G., Hamlet and 
Ophelia, by, 222, 223, 249 

—— Hand and Soul, by, 176 

—— Heaton, Mrs., portrait of, 
by, 310 

—— Hesterna Rosa, by,172, 173 

—— Jenny, by, 233, 234 

— Johnson and Methodist 
Ladies, by, 285 

—— Launcelot at Arthur’s 
Tomb, by, 46, 100 

—— Launcelot escaping from 
Guenevere’s Chamber, by, 222, 
223 

—— Leah and Rachel, by, 28, 
41, 46, 47, 59, 61, 92, 94, 99 

—— Letters to Allingham, by, 
102 

—— Love’s Nocturn, by, 174, 
175, 204, 235 

—— Madox Brown, Memoir, by, 
190, 191 

—— Magdalene at door of 
Simon the Pharisee, by, 12, 
183, 184, 202 

—— Magdalene leaving the 
Feast, by, 171, 173, 196, 202 

—— Maids of Elfinmere, design 
by, 87 

-—-— Mary in House of John, 
by, 214, 215 

—— Mary Nazarene, by, 171 

—— Matilda, by, 28, 108 

— Nativity, by, 107, 113 

—— Old Ballad, design from, 
by, 6 

—— Paolo and Francesca, by, 
46, 59, 61, 118, 123, 124, 127, 
141 

—— Passover in Holy Family, 
by, 18, 27, 30, 92, 94, 104, 


323 


108, 109, 116, 117, 123, 125, 
139, 140 

Rossetti, Dante G., Portrait 
(The), Poem by, 233, 235 

— Regina Cordium (Mrs. D. 
G. Rossetti), by, 243 

—— Rossetti, Mrs. D. G., 
sketches of, by, 19, 40, 246 

— Ruskin, Portrait of, by, 
175, 177, 204, 311 

—— St. Agnes of Intercession, 
by, 174, 176 

—— St. Catherine, by, 143, 144, 
183, 184, 225 

—— Salutation (The), by, 310 

—— Seed (The), of David, by, 
122-125, 129, 192, 202, 215, 
235, 282, 283, 285, 287 

—— Sister Helen, by, 78, 144 

—— Stratton Water, by, 19 

—— Tennyson Designs, by, 121, 
122, 146, 172, 208 

—— Union Hall, Oxford, paint- 
ings in, by, 190, 199, 200 

—— Vineyard, Parable of the 
glass designs by, 294 

Rossetti, E. Lucy, 17 

Rossetti, Elizabeth E., 2, 6-9, 
14, 16, 19, 21, 28, 33, 34, 36, 
37, 41-43, 46, 48, 54, 58, 62, 
64, 67-70, 76, 79, 80, 82, 85, 
88, 92, 93, 95-103, 105, 106, 
108-110, 113, 118, 126, 127, 
141, 143, 146, 149, 150, 162- 
165, 167, 183, 187, 237, 240, 
242, 245, 253, 254, 295, 296, 
299, 303, 309 

— Clerk Saunders, by, 8, 
171, 175, 176, 188, 206, 299 

—— Haunted Tree (The), by, 
82, 171, 172 


324 


Rossetti, Elizabeth E., Pippa 
Passes, design by, 101, 103, 
171 

—— Sister Helen, design by, 
78, 80, 148, 144 

—— Study of a Head, by, 171 

—— Tennyson, water-colours 
by, 171 

— We are Seven, 
colour by, 171 

Rossetti, Frances M. L., 36, 69, 
208, 276 

Rossetti, Gabriele, 1, 5, 247, 
262 

Rossetti, Mari Francesca, 33, 
92, 94, 95, 158, 159, 167, 168, 
220, 222 

Rossetti, Wm. M., 15, 18, 21, 
26, 36-38, 40, 45, 52, 58, 85, 
87, 117, 123, 125, 129, 134, 
145, 147, 158, 159, 161, 166, 
174-179, 181, 185-187, 192, 
194, 206-208, 212, 213, 217, 
220, 224, 226, 227, 231, 235, 
238, 246, 250, 255, 260, 262, 
271, 274, 276, 289, 290, 292, 
293, 307, 309 

—— Allingham, 
by, 87, 88 

—— British Sculpture, article 
by, 271 

—— Dante Rossetti, Memoir of, 
by, 1, 4, 150, 162, 309 

—— Shelley, edited by, 275 

—— Shelley, notes on, by, 275 

Rouen, 277 

Rouen Cathedral, 13, 14, 278 

Routledge & Co., 8 

Royal Academy, 77, 92, 128 

Ruskin, John, 1, 5, 9, 10, 11, 17, 
20, 22, 25, 27, 31, 33, 35, 36, 


water- 


critiques of, 


INDEX OF NAMES 


38, 39, 41, 44-47, 52, 56, 59, 
62, 64, 67-70, 76-78, 80, 82- 
84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94-97, 
99, 100, 103-105, 107, 109, 
113-118, 122, 124-126, 133, 
134, 136, 138, 140, 148, 145, 
148, 157, 158, 166, 168, 169, 
174, 178, 183, 184, 186, 191, 
192, 194, 204, 213, 217, 225, 
229, 233, 235, 243, 245, 252, 
258, 261, 272, 273, 281, 283, 
288, 298, 306, 311, 312 

Ruskin, John, Academy Notes, 
by, 185, 229, 231 

—— Lectures, by, 8 

—— Modern Painters, by, 90 

Time and Tide, by, 220 

Ruskin, J. J., 67, 74, 83, 142 

Ruskin, Mrs, J. J., 68, 142 

Russell Place, London, 171, 172 

Russia, 283 

Ruth (servant), 21 

Ruxton, Captain, 179-181, 185, 
189, 194 





S 


Sr. L6, 276, 277 

St. Martin’s-on-the-Hill, Scar- 
borough, 310 

St. Paul’s, London, 55 

Salop, Archdeacon of, 108-110 

Sardinia, Kingdom of, 227 

Saunders, 137 

Saxons, The Invasion of (pic- 
ture), 187, 188 

Scharf, Sir George, 291, 292 

Scott, David, 290 

—— Alchemist Lecturing, by, 
292 

—— Calais Gate, by, 292 


INDEX OF NAMES 


Scott, David, portrait of him- 
self, by, 290-294, 308 

Scott, Mrs., 291, 307 

Scott, W. Bell, 21, 22, 26, 38-40, 
134, 147, 159, 172, 175, 217, 
220, 221, 257, 260, 271, 274, 
281, 286, 290, 293, 307 

—— Autobiographical 
by, 26 

—— Lectures on Art, by, 260 

—— Northumbrian pictures, 
Wallington, by, 285, 286 

-—— Poems (1854), by, 26 

Scottish Ballads, 6, 8 

Seddon, John P., 35, 129, 216 

Seddon, Mrs. Thomas, 40, 179, 
193 

Seddon, Senr., 32 

Seddon, Thomas, 32, 34, 35, 37, 
40, 125, 129, 172 

—— Jerusalem, picture by, 158 

Shady Hill, Massachusetts, 205 

Shakespear, 195 

—— Henry IV., by, 195 

Shelley, Percy B., 274 

— Poems of, 274 

—— Prometheus Unbound, by, 
274, 275 

Siddal, Elizabeth E. (see Ros- 
setti) 

Siddal, Lydia, 244 

Siddal, Mrs., 163 

Siena, 246, 247, 281 

Smith, Alexander, 20 

Smith & Elder, 281 

Smith, Barbara L, (see Bodi- 
chon) 

Spectator, 
26, 27 

Spenser, Edmund, 259 

Stafford House, 40, 41 


Notes, 


The (newspaper), 


325 


Stanfield, Clarkson, 32 

Stanhope, J. R. Spencer, 200, 
217, 223 

—— Gawaine and Three Ladies, 
by, 201 

Stephens, Frederic G., 44, 215, 
217, 272, 289 

Stephenson, Robert, 159 

Stillman, W. J., 52-54, 185, 
187, 307 

Stockwell, 18 

Story, Miss, 255 

Story, W. W., 246, 250 

Street, George E., 217 

Sunderland, 220 

Susa, 119, 121, 126 

Swale, Miss, 192 

Swinburne, Algernon C,, 295 

Swiss Tavern, London, 45 

Switzerland, 8, 90, 120, 121, 
126, 142, 204 

Sydney Art-Gallery, 18 


i: 


Tait’s Magazine, 5 

Tebbs, Mrs., 32 

Tennyson, Lady, 34, 208 

Tennyson, Lord (Alfred), 20, 
177, 208, 310 

—— Illustrated Edition of, 34, 
177 

— International Exhibition, 
Poem on, by, 310 

Prince Albert, Dedication 
to, by, 310 

—— Princess (The), by, 88 

—— Two Voices, by, 121 

—— Vision of Sin, by, 122 

Thackeray, W. M., 234 





| Thermopylae, 72 


326 


Thomas, W. Cave, 37, 257 

Preeraphaelitism, 
phlet by, 273 

—— Rivalry, picture by, 37 

Thornbury, Walter, 172 

Times, The, 8, 52, 129, 130 

Tintoret, 29 

Titian, 4 

Topsy (William Morris), 190 

Trevelyan, Lady, 159, 214, 215, 
283 

Trevelyan, Sir Walter C., 159, 
283, 285 

Trinity College, Dublin, 87 

Try and Remember (picture), 
181, 182 

Tunbridge Wells, 91 

Tupper, George, 161 

Tupper, John L., 49, 50, 181, 
135, 161, 217, 231, 232 

—— Linneus, statue by, 131 

—— Poems by, 50 

Turin, 119 

Turner, J. W. M., 29, 75, @, 
85, 185, 178, 191, 213 

—— Whalers, by, 185, 186 

Tuscany, 227, 229 


pam- 


U 


Union Bank, London, 157 
United States, 296 

University College, London, 284 
Upton, Kent, 239, 296, 305 


V 


VAN Eyck, 23 

—— Last Judgment, by, 23 
Velletri, 251 

Vevay, 77 


INDEX OF NAMES 


Victoria, Queen, 310 
Virgil, 231 

—— Aineid, by, 258 
Viterbo, 250, 251 


WwW 


Waaaen, Dr., 36 

Wales, 66, 67, 70 

Wallington, Northumberland, 
159, 160, 283 

Wallis, Henry, 217 

Water-colour Society, 148 

Waterford, Marchioness of, 38 

Waterloo Place, London, 289 

Watson, J. D., 172 

Watts, G. F., 217 

Webb, ‘Philip, 217, 268, 296, 
304 

Weekly News and Chronicle, 27 

Welbeck Street, 29, London, 
310 

Wells, Charles, 31 

—— Joseph and his Brethren, 
by, 31, 32 

Wells, Henry T., 281 

Wells, Mrs. Henry T., 281 


Wentworth, 22 


Wesley, John, 303 

Westminster Hall, 194 

Weymouth, 281 

White, D. T., 14, 15, 43, 125 

Whitman, Walt, 134 

— Leaves of Grass, by, 134, 
147, 159, 160 

Whittier, J. G., 197 

—— Old Flud Ireson, by, 197, 
205 

Windus, W. L., 136, 138, 172, 
217 

—— Burd Helen, by, 136-138 


INDEX OF NAMES 327 


Winsor & Newton, 78 Working Men’s College, 32, 52, 
Witherington, Francis, 135 86, 186, 308 
Wolf, Joseph, 172 Wornum, Ralph N., 36 


Wolf (New York), 195 
Woodward, Benjamin, 87, 97, 
98, 128, 182, 133, 199, 217 Y 
Woolner, Thomas, 22, 32, 40, 45, 
147, 160, 211, 217, 219, 298, | YBAMES, W. F., 285 
272, 282, 283, 310 
—— Bacon Statue, by, 182, 133 7, 
—— Tennyson Bust, by, 160 
—-— Wallington Hall Group, | ZooLoaicaL Gardens, London, 
by, 159 92, 207 


THE END 


Printed by BALLANTYNE, Hanson & Co. 
Edinburgh & London 











e a nen ae 


~ ; Ce - < ' : : ey * ¥, Sis 


= - '' uw 
>" = 2x, ae 7 ‘ 
i - _* -- » 7 - 
t) ee rf = 4 
P 


here . bid 5.) ens - - 1% 


cue Oe, eeat B = cee 7 


1S a 4 7 ee a > is al 
Saal a> as > Sas ne rages qr sant) 





nT 





3 0112 04961585 


